Comic approach to the drama of the Balkans

Rating: 8/10 (22 February 2011)

Underground is a Serbian-France-Germany movie directed by Emir Kusturica.
It is an allegorical tragicomedy about Yugoslavia, which mixes elements of surrealism (some very Buñuel-ish moments there), comedy of the absurd, neorealism, and époque drama to offer a satirical drama about Yugoslavia - a conglomerate of nations formed by people who have lived in war, against others or against each other, for almost a century.
The movie is structured in three parts: War, Cold War, War. The first is devoted to the WW II, the second to Tito's period, and the third to the civil war that would end with the disintegration of Yugoslavia. The second part is the most interesting -and the one that gives the movie its title- as it shows in a metaphorical way how Yugoslavs related to each other, deceived each other, exploited each other, lied to each other, and how things were building up in their spirit during those years.
All the characters are well drawn, and all the actors do a great job in their respective roles. The main characters are a couple of rascal friends and a always-in-heat actress. In fact, they cannot be taken straightforward as they are three human archetypes. Marko -played by Miki Manojlovic- is the sort of people who say they have political beliefs and that they are fighting for them, when, in fact, they are using the juncture to thrive personally, despite everything and everybody. Cmi = Blacky -played by Lazar Ristovski- depicts those people who truly believe in what they preach and act accordingly, no matter what; however, they are so obsessed with their beliefs that will end being blind to reality. Finally, Natalija -played by Mirjana Jokovic- depicts those people who will always support the political regime in power, and will change and move on as the scenario does, always thriving. The counterpoint to these three is Ivan -played by Slavko Stimacy- Marko's mentally changed brother, who loves his monkey Soni more than any human and wants to hung himself all the time as he's always deceived and betrayed by everybody.
Although all the themes touched in the movie are, indeed, very serious and dramatic, Kusturica's merit is to present them in a farce, and to talk about his people showing his love-hatred feelings, his feeling that they were predetermined to end the way they did, while putting a smile in the viewer's face.
Some scenes of the movie are unforgettable because they are surreal, funny, or shocking. My two favorite ones are both at the end of the movie. The scenes at the square of the old village are terrific, visually shocking, provocative and unforgettable. The end with the "island" really explains the whole movie and contains one of the most beautiful images of the same. Some of the scenes related to the marriage of Blacky's son, the first outing of the son to the real world, and the shooting of the movie about Blacky, are also great.
Some Bosnians and French philosophers have accused the movie and Kusturica of being pro-Serbian and sending pro-Serbian messages in his movie. However, to me, Kusturica's movie is more an exercise of evaluation of the human traits of the people who amalgamated Yugoslavia, as a whole, as all of them are to blame for the disintegration of the Balkan country in a way or another. Of course, Kusturica considering himself a Serbian and Ortodox, despite being born Bosnian and Muslim, he does not mention anything about the barbaric acts committed by the Serbians. However, we see best friends killing each others... anybody who wants to understand, will. The movie rarely mentions any ethnic group.
Going now to the downs of the movie, I thought the movie was extremely long, not engaging at times. At the same time, I thought the movie looked like a TV series re color, texture of the film, and use of the camera, a thing that I don't like seeing in a proper big screen movie. And, alas, it is an adaptation for the big screen of a 5-hour TV-series. This would have not mattered if the editor had done a better job, that is, focused on the important and got rid of the superfluous. Two hours would have been more than enough to tell the same story. Otherwise, you can still watch the whole series.
I found the music overbearing and annoying, although some of the individual pieces are beautiful, but there is that choondah-choondah nyiiiiiiiiii-nyiiiiiii sort of sound all along the movie that got into my nerves. However, the music goes well with the histrionics of the characters and the craziness of the story. It is shocking that a society that seems to be so keen on partying and on celebrating, so musical, would end being at war and killing each others.
Once upon a time, there was a country... and people who were happy being together without hating each other and killing each other.
Underground is, despite the appearances, a very sad movie as speaks of social and human failure.