the only exception i would take with this movie (and this might have started with 'father is away with business') is my unease, as viewer, with kusturica's program. in other words, when confronted with the burden of kusturica's take on 50 years of communist (yugoslav) history, i cannot easily suspend my critical sense vis a vis history in order to fully enjoy the story. and critical sense and magic-realism don't go well together. yet, somehow, the ever-postponed end leaves the viewer on a good balance.

A Masterpiece! (Rating: 5.00)
Review : Magic, wild, powerful, absurd and disturbing at times. It pulls you in from the opening shot set to the wild score of the gypsy brass band, following guns-wielding, slivovoce-swigging main characters, Blacky and Marko. (A note on the band: The name of the band is "Boban Markovic Brass Orchestra", one pretty difficult to come across. Buy "Jova Stojiljkovic and his brass Orkestar" or as one of the reviewers suggested - "Fanfare Ciocarlia"(Amazon has them both). Band is present almost in every shot, which as a lover of Balkan music, I greatly appreciated. Through the first 2/3 of this epic, its music swirls you through a carnival of masterfully filmed events(weddings, brawls, deaths, fights, escapes, etc) right to the nightmare of the Bosnian war. Then smile is instantly wiped out from your face, as you watch former Yugoslavia burn amd the protagonists anihilate each other. In the final scene all the characters meet and party again on an island, drifting away, for the first time under a broad daylight. As a whole, this film is an uproarious, fast-paced, out-of-control comedy and a powerful testament against stupidity and absurdity of war.

Hasn't Yugoslavia suffered enough? (Rating: 3.00)
Review : When it appeared in 1995, Underground joined that hallowed group of Great Films that I Don't Get. Because although it received ecstatic praise, was almost unanimously declared by critics all-over as a staggering masterpiece, and even took the Palm D'Or at Cannes, it left me more or less baffled.

The movie is, well, bizarre. It involves two communist resistance fighters in Nazi occupied Yugoslavia, Blackie and Marko, who also happen to be THE loudest people on earth. Indeed, if there's anything remarkable about this movie, it's that it manages to keep its characters shouting their lines for no apparent reason through its over 3-hours running time. Blackie falls for a blonde actress and the shrillest woman in a country that (if we are to believe the film) is entirely populated by women doing Tarzan impressions 24/7. When Blackie must hide from the Nazis, Marko puts him up in a huge underground cellar along with dozens of other characters. There they form a mini-society and make weapons that Marko is supposed to distribute to the resistance. Marko, however, sells the weapons on the black market, becomes rich, and seduces Blackie's girl. So when the war's over and Blackie is declared a national hero by the new communist government, Marko has little reason to pass the news onto Blackie and his gang, who go on believing for 15 years after the war's end that the combat against the nazis still rages on.

A lot of other stuff happens in the movie, and I must say that not all of it is disagreeable. The opening bombing of the zoo is a tour-de-force and the film saves its piece de resistance for the very end; indeed, the film's conclusion, quiet and contemplative (by the film's standards, of course) is a thing of infinite beauty. Other good moments and ideas are interpersed here and there, but at a 3-hour running time, the film hasn't nearly enough of them. What it does have, however, are characters screaming because, apparently, loudness is equivalent to humor.

Underground is a film bursting with energy. It might very well be the most kinetic movie I've ever seen and it gives other famously bustling movies (like Fellini's Amarcord) a run for their money. But in the end it is humorless, a fault that would not be quite fatal were it not for the fact that the film wants desperately to be funny.

Film Starts Here. Talk about this movie! Buy someone a copy. (Rating: 5.00)
Review : When the patriotic Blacky, from the film, has had enough he takes matters into his own hands, with hilarious, redemptive, celebratory results. The film is universal and is very worth watching without subtitles which can be distracting to the excellent acting, but I find that the dialogue helps lend to many metaphorical musings. I plan on watching this film as many times as I've seen Morvern Callar. Too many. The comedy in Underground is fast, subtle, and frequently metaphorical. The musicians are well paid and they are integral to the film. Final thought:"Franz!"

Absolute Masterpiece (Rating: 5.00)
Review : Directing, performances and music. This is a movie that you should not miss.