Guy33134 Review of Vukovar Poste Restante

Vukovar Poste Restante (1994)

One of the first and best films about 1990's (ex) Yugoslavia's

[9/10 · 13 July 1999]

VUKOVAR is the only film, besides BEFORE THE RAIN, to draw you in to the events in post-1992 Yugoslavia, and make you feel them as you were there. It's a shame comments like "it's been done before and better" are often the first impression people read when researching a film. Obviously, anyone making such as a statement(in 1998!) is a johnny-come-lately fool who should think before writing such nonsense. How can it have been done before when these "better" movies were made after VUKOVAR in 1994! Wake up! VUKOVAR was one of the first few. In 1995, I saw it in Los Angeles (Santa Monica) in regular release, not in a festival, then watched it again last year on video. If video is one's only access to films, fine, but check the release date before such a broad claim from the deep province. Even after seeing a dozen features dealing with Balkan tensions and ethnic wars in the 90's (including the great, slightly earlier BEFORE THE RAIN which does not deal with Serbia/Bosnia/Croatia), VUKOVAR remains one of the most touching and realistic. AND, importantly, before VUKOVAR, "it had NOT been done before", better or worse, just not at all! VUKOVAR is great, relevant film-making.