Simply Magical.

Rating: 9/10 (16 October 2000)

"Once upon a time," Underground begins, "There Was a Country." And what a marvelous, jubilant country it was. Or at least it was for a small group of Communist sympathizing thieves led by Marko and Blackie. But when war reaches their hometown of Belgrade, their lives, seemingly always accompanied by a boisterous brass band, go from comic to, well, comically tragic. Underground works as history, as a fairy tale, as a national lament, or simply as a fun film.
From five minutes in, director Emir Kusturica has me hooked. When the Axis forces attack, their principle target seems to be the Belgrade zoo, both liberating and killing many of the wild animals. The imagery of elephants walking the streets stealing shoes, geese flapping around in slow motion, and the blood stained bodies of monkeys lying in the rubble is captivating. It seems reductive, but basically Kusturica always seems to know where the camera belongs, and it's rarely in the set position fans of classical Hollywood cinema are familiar with.High angles, low angles, and mostly dancing wildly around, Kusturica simply doesn't go wrong.
The first third of Underground is outrageously funny. It's the World War 2 comedy that Life is Beautiful wishes it could be and Miki Manojlovic and Lazar Ristovski as Marko and Blackie are the ideal comic duo. They sing, they dance, and the mug for the camera, but they also capture the joy of a now-gone culture. As the film progresses into its second act, both performances darken and develop as the plot takes a striking twist (SLIGHT SPOILERS, but not much): Marko convinces Blackie and the rest of the gang that the war is still going and that they must remain in an underground hiding place, while he (Marko) is marrying Blackie's actress love and rising in the ranks of Tito's administration.
Frankly, it would be unfair to tell anymore, or to further discuss any of the wonderous set pieces, the comedy, the beauty, and finally the tragedy of a nation that once existed and now? Well, the final image of the film, which provides a striking construction of national and personal identity, is one of the great endings of the last decade.
I don't usually find myself quite so enthusiastic, but only a little padding midway through the second act prevents me from giving this one a perfect score. Still 9/10 isn't bad.
Quick Notes: I saw the film in a wonderful widescreen print. I assume that some of its visual majesty would be lost on a small pan-and-scan television screen. Additionally, it is my understanding that the film was released in a number of different cuts. The one I saw was around 160 minutes.