One of the earliest European movies I've seen some 10 years ago. It is Emir Kusturica's metaphor of the post-WW2 Yugoslavia. The movie did well back home (Lebanon) but also in Europe and Cannes most likely because of the steamy Serbian war that burst starting the early 90's and was followed closely by Lebanese too. I think another major reason for the movie's big success was the soundtrack by Goran Bergovic.The movie focus on a Yoguslavian village during the Nazi invasion where two brothers Blacky and Marko decided to lead the resistance, mostly because they were both in love with a talentless but hot actress that was the girlfriend of one of the Nazi officers.
This is the opening scene, interestingly enough the soundtrack is played live by the actual band of Brekovic during most of the film. This added more "craziness" to the already absurd setting of the movie that constantly crosses the line b/w reality and fantasy.
After hiding under ground, the whole village set up its own auto-maintained system of providing food, light, water lead by the brothers. Years later Marko realized that the WW2 is over but instead of informing the village, he keeps them underground and takes advantage of their effort in order to build weapons. Blacky unaware of his brother's plan stays undergound. Marky, now national hero and the brother of a martyr (supposedly the missing Blacky), ended up marrying the hot actress he also became a leader in weapon trafficking during the cold war by still convincing the hidden village that it's still WW2 (a direct reference to Tito's isolation of Yoguslavia after WW2 for the cold war), things became more complex when things get loose... leading to 1992 and the break of Yugoslavia.
Amidst the chaos the two brothers end up on opposing side and in one scene, Blacky realized that he shot his brother (who is wheelchair-bound) while the wheelchair is on fire and going aimlessly in circles, Blacky is walking after it trying to revive his burning brother while they're both circling around a broken statue of Jesus (upside down) (I tried to look for the scene of youtube)... a great scene (in the poster above) is when the sexually frustrated drunk wife (because of Marky's impotence) dances around the "erected" tank cannon... I didn't find that too. that's another scene from an underground wedding...
The movie ends in a surrealistic world, from the point of view of the "village idiot"where all damage (including killed protagonists) celebrate their "country" somewhere on a small island... it concludes by: Once upon a time, there was a country.
Overall the movie offers a myriad of funny moments unrelated to the main plot but adds to the mood, like this fish scene. It's long (163 mins cut from original 320!!) but fast-paced specially with the gypsy music.... excuse the dumb added Pinocchio here
Kusturica made also "When Father Was Away On Business" and "Black Cat, White Cat" both also strong social dark comedies but not as socially involved as Underground. Underground is a mix of genres: comedy/tragedy/political/fantasy....
it is a great pleasure to watch.... i'll add this edited scene here.... (the 2 bros with the woman). I highly recommend it if you want to spend a "good time" watching a movie. I skipped a lot of subplots but maybe we'll elaborate one day if you guys manage to watch it.
Wassim
