Underground

Plot synopsis:
Underground depicts the life of two friends throughout World War II, Cold War, and the Yugoslav Wars.The film opens in Belgrade, the capital of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, early morning, 6 April 1941, as two roguish bon vivants Petar Popara nicknamed Crni (Blacky) and Marko Dren are heading home following a night out on the town. Riding atop a horse carriage while tailed and serenaded by a brass orchestra, they're drunkenly singing and shooting their way through the city's downtown. They pass through Kalemegdan and shout salutes to Marko's brother Ivan who's an animal keeper in the Belgrade Zoo. A stutterer with a lame leg, Ivan is already up to feed the animals and waves to them warmly as he records food portion amounts while listening to early morning radio bulletins.As the drunk duo pulls up in front of Blacky's home, his pregnant wife Vera comes out to angrily usher her husband into the house while threatening to leave him "just like Marko's wife left Marko". Intoxicated Marko pulls Vera aside and lets her know that they enrolled Blacky in the Communist Party (KPJ), but she's way too angry about Blacky's irresponsible behaviour as a husband to properly process that piece of information. Blacky goes into the house while Marko proceeds on and picks up a street prostitute before disappearing into his house with her.Part One: War
1941A couple of hours later, as Sunday dawns, Ivan is making rounds at the zoo to feed the animals, hungover Blacky is eating breakfast while pregnant Vera complains about his supposed affair with a theatre actress, and Marko is preparing for sex with his prostitute as he lecherously watches her take a scrub in his bath tub. Suddenly, the roar of the planes is heard, and Nazi bombs begin falling on Belgrade. In the ensuing chaos, as people run for cover (including Ivan desperately trying to save his beloved animals), unflinching Blacky and Marko show no signs of panic. The former stubbornly sits at his table eating his breakfast, cursing the Nazis as his wife pleads with him to go to the shelter, while the latter is about to climax with the prostitute on top of him when suddenly, frightened by the bombs, she runs away in horror thus forcing him to finish himself off.After the air raid is over, Blacky goes out against the wishes of his wife and inspects the devastated city. Encountering building ruins and escaped wild animals from the zoo, he also runs into disconsolate Ivan carrying a baby chimp named Soni. Blacky's parting piece of advice to his best friend's brother is a stern: "Stop crying! You want the Germans to see you like that and laugh at you?" before giving him some money to buy milk for the monkey.Royal Yugoslav Army's resistance is quickly broken, and Nazis soon occupy and dismember the entire Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Blacky starts operating clandestinely as a communist activist along with Marko and others. Their activism mostly consists of stealing German weapons shipments as well as jewellery and other valuables from the city's elite. In theory, the idea is to send all the weapons and money made from the stolen goods to Partisan guerrillas fighting in the woods, however, much to Blacky's dissatisfaction, many of the 'activists' are using the rackets for personal gain.Blacky occasionally visits his mistress Natalija Zovkov who's been assigned to a special actors' labour brigade that's helping the city's rebuilding effort under German occupational control. An acclaimed, pampered, and celebrated actress in the National Theatre, Natalija is finding it hard to adapt to manual labour, especially as she has a sick, wheelchair-bound brother Bata to take care of. On one of his visits to the site where she's cleaning bricks, Blacky brings her a stolen necklace, which cheers her up momentarily, but she now generally sees their relationship as a liability fearing that it could only bring her trouble like being sent to the prison camp, especially after she heard about the bounty prize the Germans have set for his capture. However, she's not without options as she's caught the eye of a high-ranking German officer named Franz who is more than willing to indulge her and pay for Bata's medicine, meaning that her manual labour days are over.Meanwhile, Marko has set up weapons storage and hideaway spot in the cellar of his grandfather's house. Following their interception of a large trainload of weapons, Marko and Blacky are mentioned by name and identified as dangerous bandits in Nazi radio bulletins. While Blacky is off hiding in the woods as Germans are intensifying door-to-door raids in the city, Marko takes Vera, Ivan and many others into the cellar to hide.Vera is due any minute and gets contractions immediately upon entering the cellar. She's not feeling well physically and emotionally, and is especially mad about Blacky not being there for her. After giving birth to a baby boy, she instructs Ivan to name the baby Jovan before passing away on the cellar stairs as Ivan weeps inconsolably.1944It's now exactly three years later, the war rages on, and Blacky is in town to celebrate his son's birthday at a local communist hangout. Despite the occasion being bittersweet (it is also the third anniversary of Vera's death), he's in his element: loud, brash, and boisterous - lighting a candle for his deceased wife before ordering rounds of drinks and proudly showing his son's photo around. Marko, who by now has progressed to the party secretary position, shows up and warmly greets Blacky before proceeding into the back room to make a weapons deal with some comrades. As Marko counts a huge stash of cash they've just given him, exuberant Blacky comes in and tells him to go out and buy the biggest bouquet of flowers available before giddily declaring: "there'll be a wedding". Blacky also inquires whether "everything is arranged about the priest's arrival", to which Marko assures him that it is all taken care of. As Marko leaves, Blacky goes back to the bar and picks a fight with some communist activists he knows to be weapons trade profiteers. In the middle of a fist fight, Marko returns with a requested bouquet and promptly joins the fracas on his friend's side.The two best friends then head for the theatre in jovial mood while blurting out random lines from a Mayakovsky poem. The bravado and jocular tone are only briefly interrupted when Blacky states his disgust about activists within the organization using the situation for personal profit, urging Marko to do something about it "as party secretary".Once in the theatre, they see Natalija performing on stage in front of beaming Franz and other German officers. Overcome by intense feelings of love and jealousy, Blacky forces his way backstage and enters the scene pretending to be part of the production. Speaking in broken German he requests the other actor to tie him and Natalija together back-to-back with a rope. With Natalija fastened to his back, Blacky walks up to the edge of the stage and shoots Franz twice in the chest before running away as chaos ensues inside the theatre.With Natalija still strapped to his back, Blacky manages to reach the river boat anchored just outside of Belgrade. Naturally, Marko is along as well, in addition to a brass band, and all are getting ready for a forced wedding despite Natalija's protestations. Blacky criticizes his tied up bride-to-be for performing for Germans, lecturing her that other women take care of the wounded in the woods. Blacky goes off into the bushes to relieve himself, leaving Natalija tied in ropes, and instructs Marko to "take care of my bride". Blacky is approached by Partisan messenger who just arrived from the high command informing/threatening him that comrade Leka plans on taking disciplinary action against him if the weapons do not arrive soon. Blacky is not worried and brings the messenger into the boat to show him it is full of weapons.While this is going on, Marko starts to put the moves on Natalija through belittling his best friend by pointing out class disparity between her "our greatest actress" and thuggish low-brow Blacky. He tells her that Blacky had been falsely presenting himself as an electrical engineer, when in fact he is "a mere electrician - a pole climber" by which she seems disgusted. Marko even brings Blacky's morals and communist resolve into question by telling her he has completely changed since he came into money. Suddenly, Blacky bursts in and roughs up both Marko and Natalija. Faced with Blacky's fury, she quickly changes her tune and assures him that she wants to marry him as Marko also pleads his case and denies any wrongdoing. Blacky is somewhat pacified, but still decides to humiliate Marko by riding him like a horse around the boat deck while the band is playing. The wild night of drinking and dancing continues. As dawn appears, the party is interrupted by German soldiers surrounding the anchored boat. Suddenly, Franz is seen yelling from the distance behind his soldiers, demanding Blacky and Marko release Natalija who runs off from the boat into Franz's waiting arms. Confused and angry, Blacky irrationally chases after her, but gets only as far as the boat ramp before Germans stop him with guns drawn. He yells back at Marko to open fire, but instead of heeding his request, Marko starts the boat up and sails off. Blacky is captured by Germans and tortured in the city hospital with electric shocks while Franz and Natalija visit her brother Bata at the same hospital and discuss moving him to a sanatorium in Austria. Meanwhile, Marko has found a way to enter the building through an underground sewer passage. Posing as a doctor, he enters the hospital room where Franz, Natalija and Bata are talking. Sneaking up on Franz, Marko strangles him to death with a cord in front of Natalija who switches sides once again. Marko then proceeds to free Blacky. They leave with fatigued Blacky hidden in a suitcase, but Blacky requests a bomb to commit suicide in case he is captured again. As they are all heading back through the sewer, Blacky drops the activated bomb by mistake and gets blown to bits inside the suitcase. He survives but requires an extended recovery period in the cellar.A few days later on Easter 1944, Marko and Natalija, now an official item, are watching comatose Blacky from their living room as he recovers in the cellar below. They proceed to dance and exchange exaggerated tenderness as the allied bombs start to fall on Belgrade.Soon, in late October 1944, the Red Army accompanied by Yugoslav Partisans enters Belgrade thus liberating the city from the Nazis for good. Marko, an important cog in the revolutionary movement is seen proudly waving the communist Yugoslav flag and victoriously exclaiming: "Freedom".Over the coming years he advances up the party and state ladder: he gives fiery speeches from the National Theater balcony during the Trieste crisis, he socializes with Josip Broz Tito, Rankovi and Edvard Kardelj - attending lavish parties and going on foreign state visits with them, and he stands right next to Tito during military parades through downtown Belgrade. Throughout it all, Natalija is right by Marko's side.Part Two: Cold War
1961Marko is one of Tito's closest associates and advisors. The physically recovered Blacky and company are still in the cellar under the impression that the War is still going on above.Marko and Natalija attend a ceremony to open a cultural center and unveil a statue of Petar Popara Blacky whom everyone thinks died fighting the Nazis and is thus awarded the status of a People's Hero. Before delivering a keynote speech, Marko is approached by a film director who inquires whether he would allow Natalija to play a role in the film based on his own memoirs. Marko refuses but he does agree to visit the set.Below ground, the full extent of Marko's meticulous deception is revealed. It goes to astonishing details: from time to time he stumbles down into the cellar looking haggard and beaten, pretending that Gestapo roughed him up so that the people below still think German door-to-door raids are on-going. He also regularly plays air-raid sirens as well as various newsreels that show Nazis holding strong on the Eastern Front, while urging restless Blacky to stay below and save his energy for the final battle. Marko even brings his best friend an engraved watch as a personal gift from Tito.With the help of his grandfather who is in on the devious con, Marko oversees the weapons manufacturing and even controls time by adding hours to a day so the people in the cellar think that only 15 years passed since the beginning of World War II instead of 20. They're continuously making weapons, and Marko profits from it enormously.The filming of an epic state-sponsored motion picture based on Marko's memoirs titled Prolee stie na belom konju (Spring Comes On A White Horse) begins above ground. Receiving a hero's welcome by the film's cast and crew, Marko and Natalija visit the set during shooting of the scene that erroneously depicts events on the anchored river boat in 1944.Back home, Marko has prepared a text for Natalija to deliver to Blacky down below. The premise is that she's been raped and beaten by Germans, and left for dead. Natalija agrees to go along with it and in make-up that's making her look savagely beaten delivers a scripted "I love you" to Blacky who seems energized by her declaration.Soon, Blacky's 20-year-old son Jovan is getting married to Jelena, a girl he grew up with in the cellar. Marko and Natalija are naturally invited for a celebration. Blacky pulls his son aside and tells him he can't wait any longer and that he will go above to fight as soon as everyone's gotten drunk. He also relays his frustration about being told to wait for Tito, the party, or the Russians, also stating his decision to take matters into his own hands.At the other table, all is not well with Natalija and Marko as she, influenced by alcohol, starts making a scene accusing Marko of stealing her youth and bemoaning her bad luck to have ever come across him. She soon begins admonishing him for the crime he got himself involved in, but he soon pacifies her.However, Blacky has heard their conversation and instead of personally killing Marko he hands him a gun and tells him to finish it himself. Blacky proceeds to tie Natalija to his back while Marko instead of committing suicide, blows out his own kneecaps with a gun. As he's doing that, Ivan's monkey Soni has wandered into a tank and fires a round blowing a hole in the wall. Soni wanders off, and Ivan follows.Blacky with Natalija tied to his back goes out and calls his son Jovan along. Along the way through the underground corridors, he lets Natalija go, reasoning that "women and revolution don't go together" with a promise of reuniting soon.Blacky, with his son Jovan, emerges from underground for the first time in decades. They encounter the set of Spring Comes On A White Horse and believing WWII is still on, they kill 2 extras and the actor playing Fritz, believing them to be the real thing. In the manhunt Jovan drowns but Blacky escapes.Part Three: War
1992The final section is set in 1992 at the height of the Yugoslav Wars. Ivan re-emerges with Soni, whom he was recently reunited with. He stumbles upon Marko, who is attempting to broker an arms deal in the middle of a conflict zone. The deal falls through and Ivan catches up with Marko beats him to unconsciousness and then commits suicide. Natalija arrives and rushes to Marko's side, proclaiming her love for him. They are captured by militants and they are ordered to be executed as arms dealers by militants' commander, Blacky.Blacky moves his people out to the cellar that he lived years ago. taking Soni with him. He sees an image of Jovan in a well, and inadvertently falls in while reaching for him.In a surreal ending, all friends and family, living and dead, are reunited at Jovans wedding, where Ivan (no longer stuttering) ends the film with a closing monologue.

Tags: comedy, murder, psychedelic, satire, romantic, revenge

Review:
Those who have seen "Underground" have probably noticed that we are not watching one film but a collection of at least 10 films in one single masterpiece!!I watched with great enthusiasm the work of Kusturica after "Underground" in films like "Arizona Dream" or "Black Cat White Cat" films which prove to be more elaborate and "smoother" in terms of direction (brilliant works as well!!) but none of these films could ever equal the "nerve" and strength of a very young Kusturica at his best!
It's as if he gambled his own life doing "Underground"How else can you describe this work of art if not a mixture of devilish and holy images that take the shape of a flawless piece of theater-dance!!The actors speak, dance and create (more than interpret) with a vigor rarely found outside the Balkan Circle!In terms of theatrical aesthetics the film incorporates Stanislavski( realism at its best), Brecht (at certain points the actors step out of their roles and mock at themselves) and Artaud (they are flames more than humans)Needless to say more!Shocking, raw, heart-breaking!!One of the most beautiful I have ever seen!
At the end of this film, however, I began to weep bitterly--not because I was saddened by the story (although it is sad), but because I knew that I could never hope to create anything as beautiful as the movie I had just watched.
Blending 60 years of history, wars, politics, ideas, lies and tragedy into 170mins with, irony, vibrancy, music, life, poetry and beauty whilst still retaining a genuine optimism in the face of it all.Effortlessly.
So much density of politics and history compressed into such a personal story expressed through actual war footage, real political figures, self reflexivity, theatricality, music and a totally relentless narrative that isn't afraid to switch up from comedy to tragedy from one scene to the next without pandering to formulaic structure in an effort to satisfy an audience..
You'll recognize the patterns easily.It tells a story how come a country which appeared to everyone inside as an uniquely ideal world (they aren't aware where they are) could abruptly dissolve in a really, really bloody war the moment that the outside interferes...
It makes you understand the Balkans as well as any other region held together by a weird, claustrophobic mix of hundreds of years of love and war on a small piece of land, a thread so fragile that it would break if love gets any more removed from war then it ever was.The sense of time in this movie is marvelously directed, and the reason it starts as an action flick but then at one point starts to drag towards the end is...
because there is always, always a slowdown just before the next big boom/collapse; don't fight this feeling or you'll miss on the experience.It is like the Truman Show without the Hollywood ending.The movie is based on a play from Serbian master playwright, Dusan Kovacevic.
Can only think of a few more with such "powers" - maybe Cinema Paradiso is in the same league.It's truly great, it takes you on a journey together with these people and you live it with them, completely believable despite the absurdities!
The story of the last 50 years in Yugoslavia in 3 hours in a film only Emir Kusturica can do.
Having watched around 4000 movies so far, this has been my all-time best cinematic experience since its release date in 1995.
I believe the main character is Yugoslavia, and I am a Mexican, living in Mexico, you don't need to be European to understand about the terror of the war and to feel sympathy for the people that have lived the war and the uncertainty of a situation that doesn't seem to have an end.
I saw "Underground" first when I was 11 years old,but it made so much impression on me that I was,to tell the truth,really shocked.There are many people who say that it isn't worth watching.But I see,I don't judge them.It's just a bit difficult for a simple person to understand the whole meaning of it.
And Kusturica really knows a lot about human nature the complexity of which he manages to expose in this masterpiece that is called "Underground", using a great but tragic sense of humor.Kusturica comes from Balkans, where people have suffered a lot through the centuries and maybe that's why he knows the true face of war so well.
I think it's some kind of nonsense, that such wonderful film was made under the influence of tragic events, like wars and communism.
I first saw "UNDERGROUND" in 1996 about a year after it was shownat Cannes and winning the highest honor in the world of cinema; Palme D'or was the tiniest honor that could be awarded to this eternal masterpiece .....
I have seen over 3000 movies so far and keep on watching at least 10 every week but nothing can ever replace even the memory of this unique work of art.....I have seen all Kusturica's movies; His touch is so magical and his technique so unique, that I dare to say noone can't even imagine to be able to make another better movie And it'll remain the best movie of my life ...
I could not help but love every character in this movieI don't care about the historical accuracy or political connotations (though I would maybe feel differently if I was from that part of the world), to me it's like a celebration of life and all the grief that comes with it.
"Underground", by Emir Kusturica, is the best film ever.
It can be seen as a treaty on politics, a review of the Balcanic history - and Yugoslavian in particular -, an anti-communist propaganda film, a beautiful fairytale, a (sometimes) very sad story of love, a sarcastic movie about the pointlessness of war (whether it may be among countries, citizens or even friends), or a thousand and one points of view possible.
Or would like.Emir Kusturica is nothing less than a visionary with extreme talent to direct movies, as anyone can see in some other personal favorites: "Time of the Gipsies", "Arizona Dream" or "Black Cat, White Cat".
Simply a masterpiece and the best film made on the 90's, a mixture of black comedy with tragedy, a film that can really touch you deeply, about what are this people really and how can far they go on, when you see at the end, that they only can be happy after death, after the end of that war, that started to be a war, when brothers are killing each other, the others weren't.
An undefeatable spirit that leads into this people, sad when this spirit fight against each other, the city underground is where Belgrado started and finished this new era in the life of a so called country Yugoslavia, a totally perfect view made by Kusturica together with Angelopoulos the best film-makers from Europe, made by the only people that can tell the history of this Brave country.Simply Perfect 100/100.
Underground is to be viewed as one of eastern-European cinema's greatest triumph and without a doubt Kusturitza's masterpiece.Everithing is brilliant in this movie!The razor-sharp satiric humor,the eccentric director's decisions,the energy coming out of every scene!It goes from plain satiric portrait of the time to the horrors of the bombing,then again to the satiric condemnation and then to plain madness!The performances of ALL the cast is brilliant,there is not even one moment that seems fake.The camera work is fantastic and the atmosphere,being unique is overcoming!
All that at a time of war, later socialism and finally destruction of post WWII socialist ideals.In fact, the first version of 'The Underground' I saw, was the 5 hour-long marathon version.
Perhaps you need to be somehow connected to the Balkans to understand scenes like the one when Lazar Ristovski asks the gipsy musicians to follow him as he goes to the toilette.The complaints that the movie is too political are perhaps true, but only for people who don't know anything about socialism or Europe.
By now, the music theme is extremely popular in Serbia and can be heard everywhere on Belgrade's streets performed by little gipsy groups.The most important movie to come out of the Balkans; And simply put, it is perfect..
This film definitely belongs to the best movies I have ever seen.
It is a shocking and surrealistic story about the history of Yugoslavia and it shows the charming but self-destructive temperament that is so characteristic to the people of the Balkan (unfortunately I cannot claim that Hungary would be entirely free from this madness, although my prideful countrymen   get usually offended if someone suggests that we have anything common with the Balkan).After seeing the movie I browsed through these comments.
it is one of the best film I have ever seen.I really liked it.story is also perfect and Emir Kusturica's special imagines make the film wonderful.I saw other Kusturica films.They are also great.I think Kusturica is going through the Fellini's way..
And I have to mention that it makes me feel great that so many people have understood and felt this film for the cinematic beauty that it was.All I have to say is- hardly has any other movie ever captured the fire that burns us all in such a magical tale of passion and fear and humor as this one has....
There is some rumors that no one can betray you as someone really close, like godfather, or that there is no war if brother fight each other.This is at first story about friendship between two mostly different characters placed in two main roles, Crni and Marko, chasing for love of one woman, Natalia, which in one great musically color-full scene declares them as "there can be made one great made from two of you".
Lot of black humor comic scenes in war colored places of Balkan, filmed from genius Emir Kusturica, made this movie "must see" if u "wanna understand Balkan soul"..
Underground is simply the best film I have ever seen.
Some say great films (not merely movies) are not being made anymore, but this is one is there - thank God. It takes place in former Yugoslavia, but you do not even need to know history (although it greatly helps to enjoy it) to be emerged in this crazy vision.
This is the history of Yugoslavia which was able to shape it's own little universe while being at the mercy of the world.Watching this film you will know the people of the Balkins, their history, their legends, their symbolism their music their culture like nothing else can show you.Lastly This has the best soundtrack of any film ever.
Despite my respect for Kusturica's great previous pieces of art such as "Do You Remember Dolly Bell?" or "When Father Was Away on Business", I find the movie "Underground" as a very irritating distortion of historical facts and politically motivated in favor of the Serbian anti-Titoist 'chetnik' ultra-nationalism which Kusturica supports (he left his home-city Sarajevo for Belgrade and sided with the ultra-nationalist policy during the Bosnian war)Kusturica's overly exaggerated metaphoric 'scary story' about former Tito's Yugoslavia depicting a life of people being kept in isolation and total ignorance about the rest of the world for a half century, manipulated by an "evil-commie" leader may be an appropriate metaphor for the former Enver Hoxha's Stalinist Albania and the Eastern Bloc countries such as USSR, Czechoslovakia, Poland, East Germany etc.
Yugoslavia under Tito was a leading founder of the Non-Alligned Movement (not East, not West) highly opened to the rest of the world in many aspects (arts, fashion, music, film etc.) The citizens under Tito enjoyed a freedom of movement which gave them opportunity to learn and experience the rest of the world and there was a free exchange of goods and ideas with the rest of the world (expecially with the West who helped Yugoslavia to some extent as a buffer zone to the former USSR and it's satellite countries)Speaking of Kusturica himself, during that SAME socialist Yugoslavia that he criticizes and ridicules so strongly in this movie, he was actually a highly successful and respected movie director and he was involved in the Sarajevo rock'n'roll and art urban subculture (such as the crazy Sarajevo "New Primitivsm" movement which was related to punk rock and the new wave for example, then the 'Monthy Pythonic' "Surrealist" movement etc.).
This is probably the first film I watch coming from this region of the world(so I can't compare this to anything else coming from there), and I would definitely say that you need to have at least a basic understanding of the muddled, complex history of what went on there from World War 2 and the next 40 years(until when this was made, or just about; that's a lot of time to cover in less than three hours) to fully appreciate this.
With its beautiful images, drinking, music, laughter and tears; "Underground" is one of the most unique war films I've ever seen.
This movies develops trusting, doubting, and loving filings in the viewer, and makes you think about the truly valuable things in life like friendship and survival.The music is amazing and can rival classics like the "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack.
It is not for everybody and everyone, since it is too politicaly oriented (for some people's point of view - I, on the other hand, think that it is a film about human and feelings, not about politics) and to "Balkan-driven".
(Does Kusturica perhaps think about that fascist Ex-Yugoslav war spreading over the rest of Europe, eventually?) The two protagonists are being shown in a justifiable - let alone sympathetic manner - pretending to everybody: "Well it is a tragedy with our people and our history, but that is the way we are...this is our way of life - we cannot help it..." By and by you feel like wanting to shout out loud (if only Kusturica sat in the cinema) "FOR CHRIST'S SAKE, COME TO THE POINT, PLEASE..!" In fact, if this movie really shows something the basic mentality of the Ex-Yugoslav people - why do we still keep asking ourselves why they don't get their acts together to come to terms with their political problems?!This film really got on my nerves.
I felt like being talked at by a mad preacher trying to convince me with his distorted, pathetic view of god and the world, instead of seeing a good and entertaining story, with a well written plot with some - at least some - suspense in it.This is one of the most embarrassing films that I have ever seen.
Just like Marko did to Blacky, the people were kept underground, oblivious to the changes in the world.The acting was superb, and the continuous gypsy music underscored a great tragedy..
(see Arizona Dream)Underground is like a legend, a story which you share with your followers to let them know that "once upon a time there was a country...".
I saw the movie in the period of the conflict in Kosovo (4 years after the making of the film) and it looked in some way prophetic.
After some years they break out from this underground factory just to convince themselves that the war is not over.I liked this movie because of the different kind of plot which I found very interesting.
Another interpretations that I liked were Lazar Ristovski's who played as Crni and Mirjana Jokovic who played as Natalija.Finally I have to say that "Underground" is a nice movie to watch because it combines very well drama and war with comedy in such a different and beautiful way that makes this movie not only interesting but a masterpiece of its kind..
I didn't have the knowledge of the history or the political piece in the movie but still the story is screen played in a very different, still understandable manner.
I've never seen such a film that shows the horrors of war so hard- hitting and at the same time filled with hilarious absurd comedy.
Underground manages to depict the ripping apart of former Yugoslavia in a very unique manner; the drama is reflected in the entire universe of the movie (nature, animals, etc), not only in the stories of the main characters.
Another comment said that he couldn't understand the whole thing with the people being in the basement for so long..you have to wonder what he thought he was watching!The final redemption is a nice comment on war, but really it suggests that the film is deep and meaningful.
'Once upon a time there was country' - this is how this film starts, setting a tone of legend on what will follow - a long, breathtaking and heartbreaking allegory of 50 years in the history of Yugoslavia and the Balkans.
One needs not relate to this film as to a documentary, his tools are not the ones of the reporter but of the artist.It is a long movie, but I couldn't complain a bit, so fascinated I was by the story telling skills of Kusturica, by the music which is wonderful and plays an important role as in all his movies and by the acting which brings to screen a full colorful world of characters and situations.
'Underground', like all the other Kusturica films is completely fake, mystifying & false story, with unoriginal characters, banal ideas, suspicious messages, and it is generally completely worthless as a piece of art.
After some works more or less known as TIME OF THE GYPSIES (1988) and ARIZONA DREAM (1993), Kusturica saw his work finally recognized all over the world with UNDERGROUND, a poetic fable about the stormy and bloody history of his country, Yugoslavia.
Underground is a gripping movie showing you a creative and raw imagining of the events in Yugoslavia starting in WWII and ending in the Yugoslav wars.