Klopka

Plot synopsis:
=== Intro ===
The film opens with Mladen Pavlović (Nebojša Glogovac), sporting bumps and bruises on his face, nervously smoking a cigarette while talking to unrevealed individual(s). Among other things, he says that he is trying to "do this one thing right, after a series of wrongs that never should have happened".
The movie occasionally returns to the scene of Mladen talking to the unseen individual(s) and discussing different details following key plot points or displaying inner torment over the unfolding story.
=== Story ===
Mladen is a young professional residing in Belgrade where he works as construction engineer in a decrepit state-owned company that's undergoing the process of privatization. He drives a beat-up Renault 4 and rents an apartment with his wife Marija (Nataša Ninković) who teaches English in a primary school. Together they're raising their only child—an 8-year-old boy named Nemanja (Marko Djurovic). Despite their limited means, they're still managing to make ends meet and provide for their son. They arrange and lead a fairly normal and happy family life—cheering Nemanja on at swim meets and taking him to the local playground where Mladen becomes acquainted with their blonde neighbour (Anica Dobra) who also brings her daughter to play there.
However, everything drastically changes one day when Nemanja is rushed to the hospital following a collapse at gym class in school. After undergoing emergency reanimation, he is diagnosed with a heart muscle condition that requires immediate surgery since the next inflammation that could come at any time might be fatal. They are further informed by Dr. Lukić (Bogdan Diklić), that the procedure is only performed at a clinic in Berlin, Germany, costs €26,000 and is not covered by domestic health insurance plans.
Faced with this shocking development and the knowledge that they have nowhere near the money that is required for the surgery, Mladen and Marija look into different ways of coming up with the funds. Mladen applies for a bank loan, but gets flatly rejected due to not owning property and being employed at a bankrupt company. Marija submits an ad in the paper, asking for charitable donations for their son's surgery. When informed about it, Mladen confronts her on the issue as he is vehemently opposed to what she did. However, suspecting misplaced ego might be the source of his ire, she simply states that it's not beneath her pride to ask for a handout in this situation. Although they quickly make up, it is obvious that the situation is starting to put a lot of strain on their marriage.
Soon, the family gets a call from a man who claims to be interested in helping Nemanja after seeing the ad, but is not willing to discuss the details over the phone so the meeting with Mladen is arranged the next day at a bar in Belgrade's Hotel Moskva. At the meeting, the dapper, a well-spoken middle-aged man (played by Miki Manojlović) says he's willing to pay €30,000, explaining that that should cover Nemanja's surgery and three plane tickets to Germany. Furthermore, he says that all he wants in return is for Mladen to murder someone, seeing him as the perfect candidate to carry out the crime, because he does not have any prior record and because he is an honest, hard-working man whom no one will suspect. Counting on Mladen's dismayed initial reaction, the man tells him to think it over and says he'll contact him in two days.
Coming back home, Marija is eager to hear how the meeting went, however Mladen doesn't mention the shocking offer he received, simply dismissing the man he met with as "some nutcase". Although very much tempted, at this stage Mladen hopes that he never gets a call from him again, and in search of money even looks up an old colleague from his university days (Vojin Ćetković). The friend quickly rejects Mladen, telling him he's doesn't have the money right now.
Two days later, as he announced, the mysterious man calls from a moving car, inquiring about the decision. A torn Mladen tells him unconvincingly that it's a no-go. Sensing doubts in Mladen's voice, the man tells him to give it more thought and informs him that everything needed to carry out the murder will be in a plastic bag placed in an electrical closet underneath Branko's Bridge, and tells him to pick it up at 7am the next morning. Lying in bed that night, tormented, Mladen attempts to get some input and advice from Marija by saying he's got something important to tell her while looking ready to finally clue her in on what's going on. However, following his long-winded introduction, she decisively interrupts him, thinking he's about to go into a whiny tale of what's bothering him in general. She further tells him to concentrate on Nemanja rather than on himself.
That morning, Mladen shows up at the bridge and finds the plastic bag containing a loaded hand-gun, a letter with instructions and a message that promises a cash advance will be in his building mail box the next day. The letter also gives Mladen a contact name Miloš Ilić along with a PO box number. While Mladen is reading the letter in his Renault, a white BMW is seen leaving the scene.
A day later, Mladen takes Nemanja to school who's bothered by the fact that all the kids in his class saw the ad. On the way back Mladen finds €3,000 cash in his mail slot along with the intended victim's photo ID and address. The target is Petar Ivković, the owner of Mopex Trading Company. Using the instructions he's been provided about Ivković's habits, Mladen scopes out his apartment and watches him enter his Toyota Land Cruiser 100 series SUV to go to work in the morning. Along with a well dressed man, Mladen also spots a blonde woman and a little girl running to embrace Ivković - obviously his wife and daughter. Upon having a closer look, Mladen realizes that it is the blonde woman from the playground. While the little girl is the one that Nemanja plays and goes to school with. Deeply conflicted, Mladen goes to work where he takes out his frustration on the office equipment.
Soon, Nemanja has another heart episode and is rushed to the hospital once again, but this time the doctor wants him to stay for observation, repeating that the surgery needs to be done as soon as possible. The new development puts even more strain on Mladen and Marija, as they ponder their future course of action while taking turns being with Nemanja at the hospital during the day. Both realize that something needs to be done fast. Mladen is mulling over the preparations for the murder, none of which can be discussed with her, while Marija is growing impatient with what looks to her like his lack of action and answers.
Finally, late one night while Marija is at the hospital watching over Nemanja, Mladen drinks a glass of water, prepares the hand- gun, and goes out into the night. At the same time while he is waiting in front of Ivković's apartment, Nemanja gets another attack and a horrified Marija calls the nurse for help. Meanwhile, Ivković's SUV pulls up, he exits, Mladen approaches and following a short verbal exchange fires a succession of bullets at Ivković, killing him instantly. Simultaneously, Nemanja is fighting for his life as his pulse drops, but the doctors somehow manage to stabilize his condition. After the murder, a distraught Mladen is back home where he hides the gun and compulsively washes his clothes clean of powder residue. Emotionally drained, Marija also arrives home and gets very angry to see Mladen after the rough night she endured. Perplexed and completely disconnected from each other, they're barely on speaking terms. She finally implores him to say and do something in order to start dealing with this situation, but distracted and overwrought with guilt over what he did, he just tells her to move away from him. From that night they start sleeping in separate beds.
During Petar's funeral, Mladen watches the procession from a distance and sees the man who hired him giving condolences to Petar's widow Jelena. Petar's brother (played by Vuk Kostić) gives an emotional and impassioned speech vowing to find the killers and get revenge.
Mladen next wants to collect the rest of the money agreed upon after the murder, but has troubles reaching the man that had promised it to him. He also sends a letter to the contact PO box, but finds out that it doesn't even exist. Mladen realizes he was used by the man, about whom he only knows one thing: that he knew the late Ivković. To that end, Mladen starts following Ivković's widow, hoping to get some leads. However, he only finds her collapsing on a park bench while taking her daughter out to play. Mladen takes her to the hospital, and, after coming to, she tells him that she took a little more sedatives than usual and that she didn't want to kill herself despite the fact that even the doctors don't believe her. She finds comfort in talking to someone who is not from her late husband's "business" milieu. She tells him she is aware that she's receiving phony condolences from many of her late husband's friends and is convinced the murderer came from there. She also lets on that she knows her husband to have been involved in all kinds of dodgy stuff by saying that all of them knew his one side, but adds that he was the love of her life and was wonderful to her and her two daughters. Deeply conflicted and torn, Mladen is visibly troubled with the fact that he's listening and comforting the woman whose husband he just killed. While she's thanking him for all he's done for her, his conscience can't take it anymore and he excuses himself and quickly leaves.
Mladen's descent continues. Tormented by guilt and crushed by the fact he can't collect the rest of the money, he stumbles around the city drunk and gets into a fight with some arrogant youngsters, smashing the windshield of their Mercedes with a large rock. After getting beaten, he is taken to a police-station where he spends the night in custody. The next day, when questioned about the incident with the youngsters, he suddenly admits to killing Petar Ivković and tells the inspector (Milorad Mandić) every single detail of how it went down. The Inspector, however, claims to not believe a word of it and sends Mladen home while admonishing him for "wasting valuable police time on nonsense".
Mladen comes home where Marija has had just about enough of his mysterious and days-long disappearances, which she sees as his failure to deal with the situation properly and even abandonment of his family. She confronts him verbally for withdrawing inwards, calling him a "good-for-nothing weakling". In the middle of her rant, he can't take it any longer and slaps her across the face.
Later, Mladen gets a call from the man who hired him, who threatens that he will kill him and Nemanja if he keeps talking about his deed. After hearing a gypsy speaking on the other end of the phone, Mladen realizes where his antagonist is and rushes into his car and starts following the man's silver BMW. After following the man to his home, a massive compound on the outskirts of Belgrade, Mladen realizes what needs to be done. He returns to his small apartment and takes his hand-gun, loads it and heads to the compound. Mladen creeps inside and deliberately activates the BMW's security system. When the man comes outside to see why it is chirping, Mladen appears, pointing a pistol at him and asking for his money. The man confesses that he is indebted to over €500,000 and begs of Mladen to kill him, claiming that he would rather get shot in the forehead than chopped to pieces by the thugs that he is indebted to. Mladen leaves him and sits by the swimming-pool, where he gets a call from his wife, who says that somebody put € 30,000 in their bank account.
Afterwards, Mladen goes to Petar's wife and tells her that he killed her husband (this is revealed to be the scene from the beginning of the film in which he is seen speaking to an unidentified individual). He offers her the opportunity to kill him with the same gun he used to kill Petar. She declines and instructs him to leave, which Mladen does, leaving the gun behind on the table. As he leaves he sees Petar's brother approach the home with Petar's daughter, who waves to Mladen. Mladen waves back and gets in his car and stops at a red light, remaining still even once the light turns green (anticipating that Petar's widow will inform Petar's brother of the story, and that Petar's brother will make good on his vow to avenge Petar's death). Eventually a black SUV pulls up and shoots Mladen in his car (the shooter presumed to be Petar's brother). Whether Mladen is dead or just injured is left ambiguous as the film ends.

Tags: murder, atmospheric, sentimental

Review:
The story was thoughtful without being pretentious, the acting was superb, and the little nods to Serbian society (and how that reflects on the rest of us as well) were thought-provoking without being in your face.
A jewel of a film: the kind that comes perhaps once a year.
Every serious moviegoer enters each theater with the hope that this film will be that little gem that one can expect at most once a year (and some years it doesn't happen at all).
It asks the question, "what is a good man"?
The film also introduces an interesting tension around traditional gender roles -- the husband/father expected to be the provider -- even while portraying seemingly modern women.
The resulting violence that occurs is at once completely believable and yet shocking; seemingly ancillary to the main plot is one scene of senseless violence against a street child that is quite breath-taking.
There is a great symmetry to this movie, centering around a particular street corner on which that child hustles as a window-washer.
Overall this film is masterfully crafted and acted with complex layers and much to reflect upon.
Although the movie is a bit slow, it attracts like a magnet, so you can not keep an eye out of it.
Sunspense and thriller is present all the time.It raises many questions: "What would I do if I were him", "What is the limit of my love to my child"...
Great psychological dilemma, makes you think all the time.
It is true European movie, with some American influence, but only on a good way.
If you like, at least for a moment, to escape from Hollywood crap, I recommend this movie 100%..
Without question the most riveting film I have EVER seen.
The director has perfect pitch: the story, direction, acting, photography, music are truly perfect.
In many ways it reminds me of last year's "The Lives of Others." If you liked that movie, this one should definitely be on your must-see list.The audience was stunned at the end of the film and after a flurry of applause, sat silently throughout the end credits..
If you are looking for a date movie then it is not a good choice but if you are looking something with a serious, really appealing with true to life events and a strong grip on audience throughout the movie, then simply go for it.
The story, acting, direction and movement of the movie was superb.
A family of three learns that its kid is suffering from a heart problem that is gradually getting worse.
As the film starts the three lead characters get introduced - mother, father and not to forget, the kid.
It's unnecessary to say that there is a level of stress in the relationship as both parents face the fact that they do not have the money to save their kid.
And it is this stress and the way it is portrayed that makes this film so strong.
As the film rolls on and the effects get worse and worse the portraying of it stays true and all the characters are believable.As it moves to the point where action is taken it is clear why it is done and also clear where it will end, but this level of predictability isn't bad for it only answers a question that could have been answered even before the film started.As it moves towards its end it is clear that it will linger on the mind for some time after the ending credits roll by - the effects used are strong like that.9 out of 10 disturbing ways of solving a problem.
great film from Serbia.
just watched "the trap" or "klopka" which is the Serbian title for this film & i hope that it is eligible for next year's academy award for foreign language category.
i was riveted from beginning to end by the story which really makes you think of the value of human life & what we are all worth in this world.
at one point a character even mentions 911 & the way in which the u.s. government placed different monetary values on people depending on how much money the made when they were alive & working.
the acting is superb throughout from the mother & father to the kid who is the main character of the story.
this is definitely a movie for people who like to think & feel real human emotion; and not for anyone looking for car chases & mindless entertainment.
A 30 something couple finds out that their young son is suffering from a heart condition, and the only place that they can bring him for the surgery that can save his life is in Germany.
This is European film making at it's best.
But, like everything else in this film, it is as it must be.
But the worst thing of all is that it could happen to any one of the tens of millions of equally vulnerable citizens of the great Uninsured States of America just as easily as in a Second World backwater like Serbia.
The movie is very heavy,but also the very truth.Couple with ordinary jobs need money for the surgery,but in the land of transition that is a lot of money.What would You do if you was in that situation?
Humanity in us told us that we should do anything for lives of our families!The pain of life when we are in problems,the way of thinking when you end up in the corner without way out!!!
I would recommend this movie to all people,so they can see how life can change in a part of a second!One second you are very happy,next one you rushing for money to stop the misery.Now a days that is a awfully truth in the countries on "The Balkan" (Serbia,Montenegro,Bosnia,Croatia,Macedonia)!!.
Another exhibition, that you don't need big bucks or have to shoot your movie in another country, if yours isn't financially wealthy ...
Klopka (The Trap as it is called internationally) is a fine example of good Serbian cinema.If the definition of "film noir" is indeed "low-key lighting, a bleak urban setting, and corrupt, cynical characters" (as indicated in an urban dictionary), than this hits the mark!
(maybe the cynical part isn't exactly on the spot or let's say Bogart-like, but other than that, you got yourself a winner here).
The good thing about this description is, that this should be enough for you to judge, if you want to see the movie or not!
Today, when its a time of silly Serbian movies, there is a little hope that you will see a Serbian movie and say that this movie you CAN compare with other American movies.It doesn't have to be good or bad.
I saw Klopka on Fest.I was expecting a good movie.Finally good Serbian movie!I got it.Cast is very promising:Nebojsa Glogovac(who is very good in this movie),Natasa Ninkovic(also very good in this movie),Anica Dobra(good)and Miki Manojlovic.Directing is not bad by director of Apsolutnih Sto(Absolute Hundred)Srdan Golubovic but he does some mistakes in it.Vuk Kostic disappointed a little bit but he is OK.Kids are just fantastic!There are some jokes which are not created for this movie(when Mladen is in the bank)and some excellent solutions(when a girl gives Mladen headphone to listen the music).Movie is little bit slow and without charisma but, what can I say: It is a serious Serbian movie..
Has a good premise but unfortunately doesn't deliver.Some viewers have undoubtedly loved this however I simply stopped caring half way through.
This is the best Serbian drama-thriller movie ever made.
"The Trap" is full of tense and stress scenes because Mladen (Glogovac) and Marija (Natasa) do not have money for the heart operation of their son.
It describes a real life situation because every month in Serbia there is a kid who needs urgent operation and his parents do not have the necessary money.
Nebojsa Glogovac, who was the most talented and best actor of his generation in Serbia, played the role of his life in "The Trap"(Klopka)..
I guess than, that people from Eastern Europe and Soviet Union don't need this description of "what's going on during post-communism"...For me "Klopka" represents great acted documentary, rather than piece of art...Belgrade is like any other capitol (with over 1,000,000 people) in this world, so the mentality is pretty much the same.
all in all, big concrete jungle, and since heart pumps blood, the things are pretty much the same in the rest of the country...In this movie we see an "average" (or if I can call it "middle class") family struggling from day to day, or how we like to call it "surviving till tomorrow".
Life is almost exactly the same in every other Serbian family.
So each day brings new problems, but this day a big problem knocked on you door and said "Your kid has heart problem, it's serious, he can die any time soon...
he's going to need a heart surgery".
Surgery usually costs a lot, but in this country, it can't be done, and you haven't earn that much money in the past 5-10 years...
It's all about life value/price, love for your family, love for your child, depression, anger, betrayal, sadness, and everyday transitional life.
I had watched the movie yesterday evening and I still clearly remember the father's face and his misery.
He has done excellent acting.The movie feels very realistic.
Life can present tough challenges that do not have a method to solve.And there are moments where the situation overwhelms you and there are moments when the protagonists are composed in spite of the challenges.The movie honestly captures both kinds of moments.The movie has excellent emotional content.
The director has shown mastery at presenting tension.There are silent shots which convey so much about the situation.The plot is not a filmy unreal plot - there are aspects that add and take away some of the perfect Hollywood style smartness and instead presents the weaknesses that real life harbors.The man who sets the trap is himself weak as the story reveals.The wife has acted well - very convincing.
The wife is in a story thread, unaware of the thread her husband is trapped in and this dichotomy is presented well and the credit goes to the wife's acting.The husband is the one who won my heart.
Sometimes you like a movie because you like the main protagonist in the movie - this protagonist is one such.The way the story line is structured reminded me of Hawaii,Oslo where just a little portion of the story happens in the current where as most of the story happens in a flashback.The only thing that was not convincing to me was the way the husband takes up the task with very inadequate payment..
Klopka is a suffocating film, so dense in moral righteousness, it defies criticism.
It is a lot like the post-Milosevic Serbia (morose, self-pitying and self-important) but not for the reasons its makers would like us to think.
The story is presented as a mirror to modern Serbia, but it is very unoriginal, sharing a similar structure with numerous European films: A decent, if somewhat hapless, man agrees to kill a stranger to earn the money that will pay for the operation to save his only child's life.
As the vacuous, soulless Milos, he is the only character that can be considered unique to modern Serbia.Srdan Golubovic is a promising director.
(Nebosja Glogovac as Mladen wears a couple of tattered gray tops throughout the film.
Much is made of his 30-year old Renault.) If you don't know any better, you'd come out of cinema thinking that this could happen only in Serbia and society is to blame.
Because one scene in the film is so fraught with genuine suspense, it leaves the viewer wondering what a better film Klopka would have been if the filmmakers left some of their melancholy at home before coming to the set..
A little of everything the director likes.
I really don't believe that this film is good just because it looks like it's from USA.
That is not good for the film.
Late in "Klopka", Mladen(Nebojsa Glogovac) learns from his wife that the unconscious woman whose life he saved by rushing her to the emergency room, gave the name Jelena(Anica Dobra) over the phone.
This anonymity comes as a shock to the viewer since the recently widowed mother of a young girl seemingly conveyed an impression of friendliness towards Mladen, just like the day they first met outside their children's school.
In retrospect, though, after learning exactly how disparate the two families are class-wise in the newly democratized Serbia, Jelena's niceness gains an opaqueness, an edge.
Men like Jelena's husband stopped driving inferior cars after privatization became Serbian law in 2001, setting up a situation of class warfare that "Klopka" dramatizes with great complexity, almost as an afterthought.Due to rising medical costs, Mladen finds himself in the absurd position of accepting a contract killing job, when a man named Kosta(Miki Manojilovic) responds to the newspaper ad for Nemanja's condition which Marija(Natasa Ninkovic) placed over her husband's steady protestations.
More than a contract killer, the father acts as his son's vigilante, in which Ivkovich's assassination outside his home bears an unmistakable subtext of working class retribution against the elitist mindset of the nouveau rich that had given Isidora the agency to treat Mladen's son like a nothing without apology.
This subtext of vigilantism becomes more readily apparent in later scenes where both husband and wife vent their frustrations against the new Serbia, where a picture frame, Marija learns, is worth more than a child's life.
Clearly, "Klonka" implicitly endorses a return to socialism, as the film itself is a rally cry against the consumer culture of a democratic government which values things over people.
The disdainful manner in which Ivkovich(Dejan Cukic) approaches Mladen becomes the film's main motif.
Although Mladen aims a gun at Ivkovich's chest, the proletarian man isn't taken seriously(just like the cops who don't believe his confession, nor Kosta who asks for a cup of coffee at gunpoint).
In the film's most intriguing scene, what are we to make of Mladen's expression after Jelena tells him, "That money isn't much for me, and it would solve everything for you," when she offers to pay for Nemanja's operation.
While the snowball is the inevitable cause of Mladen's death, the child redeems herself during a pointed scene at the hospital, in which the egalitarian ways of socialism makes a brief comeback, when the bourgeoisie girl shares her earphone with the proletarian man, as they sit side-by-side in the hospital waiting room.
That small gesture is the heart of "Klopka", in a film that quietly endorses anarchy..
What would you do to save the life of your child?.
A cornered father with no ability to finance an expensive heart surgery for his dying son commits an unspeakable sin to save his son's life.
While people show solidarity and always try to help even when they don't have money, often this help comes too late.
This is why the proposition the father gets and the whole story became more believable for me.
After all, what's the value of the life of a "bad" man compared to the one of your innocent child.
Ultimately, all parties have different ideas about the value of the lives of Peter or Nemanja, but we are left with the taste of sacrifice, atonement and the fact that some problems simply have no good solution..
I am into indie films as mainstream ones.Don't get me too wrong.That said , Klopka surely is in indie low budget picture.
Does it affect the overall impression and judgement of whether a film is good or bad?
For example if one takes a certain story , a particular script , will the film be better if you put in a good cinematography , and worse if you put in a -not so good- cinematography.
Each scene is filmed with a camera.
They did shoot the film , you can watch it.
Its just that throughout the whole thing , you are thinking its your buddy filming with his home-camera.
Two , even if this film had great mainstream photography like a Nolan's film or an Alfonso Cuaron's one , the story isn't good itself.Like i mentioned , its Denzel Washington's "John Q" (2002) that is 5 years earlier ...
its the same story , just with a worse photography , and switch the famous actors for unknown Serbian ones.
Desperate father has a sick son with a defective heart - goes bad to get the money for the operation.It has some weak improbable points too.
-----------------------------------------------------End of SPOILERS!I read good comments over here , and someone did a comparison of this film to the German " The lives of others" .
So me , having firm respect for the lives of others , was convinced to see this with an open mind but slightly high expectations , because believe it or not , i am into foreign gems , Korean cinema , french , Italian , Belgian whatever...Well i saw this thing and this is the review.
Nothing special , i give it a 5/10 because of the bad photography and strongly because its a story that was made better in a film five years earlier.To be fair , the actors were alright.
Serious Movie for Adults / good view Serbia.
A father has a sick child who needs an operation he cannot afford---someone offers him the money needed if he commits a murder.This was a serious film for adults...5 stars.
Another couple stars.Some flaws: I found the kid somewhat obnoxious.Also found it a little hard to believe that the Father would go to the funeral of the murdered man...he had to be consumed with guilt and more than that fearful.
However the man who arranged the murder was totally believable.In addition you get a look at various struggles in post Yugoslav Serbia --without it being too heavy handed.