d_pokrajac

Rodja was born in village but came to Belgrade, finished a law school, and got employment in a state-owned company. His wife, Olga, belongs to old Belgrade family and works as an architect. Rodja's mother-in-law still cannot forget pre-second World Wat parties and socials and maintain very close friendship with Vasa S. Tajcic, a gentleman in suit and with mustache. The have 15-years old son Borko, a house helper Tina. Their regular guests are "Mother Vuka", Rodja's mother from village, police officer Klativoda, maintenance guy Mungos and others. In Socialist Yugoslavia there were a number of movies with the same or similar topics: clash between village and city, between week civil tradition and peasants who wanted to become citizens. Among the most successful is this sitcom, which has has a lot of reruns and is very well known and cherished.

A service station ("Servisna stanica") is a socialist enterprise consisting of motel and a gas station. The motel is almost always empty, and usually houses the participants of useless symposia. The official restaurant is also empty, but the buffet, rented by Jordan, a cook, is always full of guests, live music and great food. Raka, a waiter, becomes an acting manager of the Service station, and feeling as an important guy, starts with reorganization. As the first act, he closes the buffet and deprives Jordan of stable source of income. Jordan and other employees start a silent strike. At the same time, the general manager of all service stations comes to visit the premise. Who will serve him a gala-diner? Who will marry his daughter? Will Raka become an official station manager?

This TV Series is written but a prominent writer of dramas Aleksandar Popovic. Three main characters, a thief, a peasant who wants to become successful, and a clerk, after serving military service, go to the capital. There, they meet two sisters, a factory worker and a prostitute. Together, they will try to achieve Yugoslav version of American dream. Will they be successful? The script is sometimes too pathetic, but the acting is great. Among the actors, probably the best is Slobodan Aligrudic. In each episode, main characters sing one of songs, written also by Popovic. An interesting fact about the series: after it premier, the first rerun occurred 34 years later. Surprisingly,and fortunately, the series (although obviously not exactly according to the "general line) was not "erased" as numerous other masterpieces from the period.

This TV series was an attempt of Radivoje-Lola Djukic, one of founders of Serbian Television, to write 10 episodes of different genres. The overall story of the series is as follows: a bus carrying 20 people get stuck in blizzard. The passengers, including a police officer, a prisoner, a politician, a lawyer, a violinist and his wife, a doctor, and other colorful characters, found refugee in an old castle. There, they try to organize their life and to wait for rescue. Following the idea of having 10 genres in 10 episodes, the second episode is a situation comedy, the sixth episode, "Hands", in an excellent mono-drama with Marija Crnobori as a main character, and the seventh episode, "A pathetic symphony" is melodrama. 5 episodes of this series are preserved, 4 on VTR-C and 1 on VTR-Q tape (the later awaiting transfer to less volatile medium).

This is a masterpiece, but if I had known the end, I would have NEVER watched it. The movie is a story about two lonely frustrated women, one intelectual and another housewife. One a habitual eater, and another slim and anorexic. And, well, instead of lesbian relationship (which someone else would put in the movie) we have... well you will see... Just a warning: DO NOT EAT NOTHING prior to watching the movie.

I saw this series 25 years ago and actually it did not impress me. The choice of Bata Zivojinovic to play Radovan was complete failure. Bata is actually a drama actor, but he does not have sensibility for a satiric comedy as Radovan III is.

This movie is a typical Partizan "western" with "black-and-white" characters. The movie is losely inspired by actual events from WW II but its content could not be called historically true.

What is the most interesting thing about this movie is that it was immensely popular in the People Republic of China. I talked to quite a few Chinese people born in sixties, and literally everybody went with school to see the movie. I think that "Valter brani Sarajevo" could easily be the most popular foreign movie in China.

During NATO action in Serbia, when USA hit the Chinese embassy, the actor who played Valter, Bata Zivoinovic, visited wounded Chinese people in hospital, and they cherished his appearance there...

This movie is about one miner(=rudar) who is working in Coal Mine "Rakita" in South-East Serbia, but actually the movie is about the untouched beauty of a rural region, where only a narrow-gauge railway occasionally disturbs the pastoral symphony of a creek hum and shepherd flute.

Among the best silent films I've ever seen.

Once, there was a country where everybody loved communism, everybody loved president, and everybody cried when he died (including police, thieves and of course infants).

In meantime, a new leader emerged, he was not exactly loved by everybody, but was a master of manipulations and hence capable of staying in power for a long, long time. He ruled by going from a war to another war, by election frauds, by TV propaganda.

Two boys lived in such a country. They were witnesses of their homeland's downfall. They did not have idols, except a next-door gangster. And they became gangsters, too...

What will happen to these two guys? Do they have future at all? You will certainly know if you watch this masterpiece of black-humor and sarcasm...

10/10

This is great romantic movie, with unforgettable Mexican music. The brief plot: the movie is about two men in Mexican revolution, one being a high military officer and another, being sentenced for capital punishment. The mother of one of them come to see the prisoner, but she was not told that these guys, previously close friends, are now adversaries. The movie has nice cinematography, was done in great BW, and was extremely popular in Yugoslavia in fifties. My mother used to watch the movie three times and cried each time, I watched that movie in the cinema on June 17th, 1986 and cried too. A copy of the movie has been preserved in the "La Cinémathèque de Yougoslavie" and I mention this because I've heard that the original negative has been lost, so somebody from Mexico might be interested in preserving this gem...