When Father Was Away on Business (1985) User Reviews

Courageous, funny, and deeply moving

[howard.schumann · 8/10 · 18 July 2005]

Winner of the award for Best Film at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Film, Emir Kusturica's When Father Was Away on Business is a blend of comedy, family drama, and political realism that is courageous, funny, and deeply moving. The title of the film refers to the lie told to a six-year-old to cover up the fact that his father was serving time in a labor camp for making a thoughtless remark that offended the Communist apparatchiks. Set in Yugoslavia in 1950 after the break between Stalin and Tito, it was a time of confusion when people worshiped Stalin one week and despised him the next. The story is told from the perspective of six-year-old Malik (Moreno D'E Bartolli) and his performance is natural and convincing.

His father Mesa (Miki Manojlovic) is a low-level bureaucrat who spends more time womanizing and drinking than attending to his job. A casual remark filled with sarcasm about a political cartoon made to his wife Sena's (Mirjana Karanovic) sister-in-law Ankica (Mira Furlan), leads to his arrest and detention by Zijo (Mustafa Nadarevic), a Communist Party official who also happens to be his wife's brother. Mesa is sent to work in the mines while Sena becomes a seamstress to make ends meet and his sensitive son starts sleepwalking, perhaps a wry metaphor for the status of the people under Marshal Tito.

The family does reunite when Mesa is sent to a remote settlement for further re-socialization but he does not change his ways and visits prostitutes with the party official in charge of his rehabilitation, using Malik as his escort. In a sub-plot, Malik (who looks and acts more like ten or eleven than six) "falls in love" with a girl about his age who is suffering from a serious blood disorder and their inevitable separation is quite touching. Though family relations are strained, especially between Sena, Zijo, and Ankica, the family is very strong and we know that somehow they will endure. When Father Was Away on Business is perhaps the least daring cinematic ally of all of Kusturica's works but it is one of the most heartfelt and gained the director his first international success, paving the way for the full maturation of his vision in the brilliant and disturbing Underground.

Probably Kusturica's masterpiece

[bob998 · 9/10 · 11 April 2006]

I was very impressed with When Father was Away on Business; it is more coherent and moving than Black Cat, White cat, which I saw last week. The family structure is very well evoked, with three generations living in the house. The grandfather just wants to be left out of politics--for him Hitler and Stalin are pretty much the same. Mesa and Sena, the couple doomed to be separated for two years, are up to their ears in party machinations. Zijo, the brother in law, has sent Mesa to the mines for re-education, because his soon-to-be wife Ankica denounced the feckless Mesa when he wouldn't divorce Sena to marry her. In a totalitarian state, a lot depends on not annoying your relatives.

Miki Manojlovic is great as Mesa; he reminds me of Raimu occasionally. The wedding scene, when he effects a reconciliation with Zijo, is very poignant. Slobodan Aligrudic plays Cekic, the party boss who oversees Mesa's rehabilitation and finally sends him home to Sarajevo: he is affable (always wants to share a drink, play chess and so on) but the brutality is always close to the surface. Little Malik, the boy who tries to make sense of what the adults are doing, communicates a lot of joy and sorrow.

Children see the clearest

[shu-fen · 7/10 · 22 April 2004]

I saw this movie in 1990 at a local university campus cinema, found it lovely and painful at the same time. My viewing time was the time of a new beginning to the former Eastern Bloc. Now most of its communist 'allied' are seeking seats with EU or NATO. Later in the same year, I paid a visit to Croatia, what a stunning experience. The natural beauty and the Roman remains are the most impressive. From Monarchy to Communist and to Capitalist, all happened within 100 years, the people of that region have undergone a century's bloody tragedies. Yugoslavia is now a word of past tense, it was divided into several countries, some enjoy peace and some are perpetually in war since the downfall of the bloc in early nineties.

Amongst all the countries there, Yugoslavia somehow enjoyed more liberty and material comfort (some from Italy and Greece) than the others because Tito decisively broke the connection from Stalin. From what I got from the mouths of the Yugoslavians (in 1990), they all respected Tito's determination and boldness.

Malik's womanizer father (Miki Manojlovic) was set up by a woman relative, attractive Ankica (Mira Furlan) after he successfully seduced and then refused her. He was sent to do hard and laborious work far away from home. Little Malik (Moreno D'E Bartolli) wonders why daddy cannot come home often, though his mom keeps telling him that father is on business, he can smell a rat there. Later, when father comes back, he has his retribution on that woman.

The Zolj family is of Jewish origin. The circumcision scene and the later bath of the boy are absolutely comical. Though in difficult time, the innocence of children is expressed in great lovely details, Malik's interest in other sex, his father's predicament… The filming location was Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, a place where the Jews and Muslims were killing each other. Kosovo is another long-stay pain. The body and soul of this region will take a long long time to restore. Just wondering what had happened to Moreno D'E Bartolli after all these years, he should have turned 29 this year.

Emir Kusturica is one of the many shining gems in Central and Eastern Europe film industry, who are waiting for the world's more exploration and attention.

--------------

Thanks go to IMDb-ian rijecka_sirena (USA) for the rectifications (dd 30 August 2006) on my commentary (dd 22 April 2004) for the following:

1. The Zolj is a Bosnian Muslim family so there is a circumcision.

2. The neighbor is Bosnian Serbian family.

3. Ankica is Bosnian Croatian (mostly Roman Catholics).

(Acknowledged on 1 January 2007)

One of the best films ever made

[oscarbear · 10/10 · 16 August 2003]

I simply can't believe there are so few viewer comments for this movie, that won the PALME D'OR in Cannes in 1985! By the way, it represented Yugoslavia, a country wich no longer exists...It was much of a surprise back then, as Kusturica was totally unknown, and the movie was entirely produced at home with no financial contribution from abroad. No doubt, this is in the top 3 of best Yugoslavian films, if not he best one ever.

This film is a historical, not only because it deals with a specific historical context, but most of all, because it was all done in SARAJEVO a mere six years before the outbreak of war, at a time when nobody suspected how things would eventually turn out. Note that the movie shows a place where Muslims, Christians and Jews coexist in peace, and this is quite a symbol today when you watch it knowing what came next. It is highly probable that some of the crew died during the Yugoslav conflict, which took place around that same city and cost 300,000 lives.

The lead role by little Moreno de Bartolli is certainly one of the most amazing child performances on screen ever. Otherwise, two of the actors appeared in famous films after that. Miki Manojlovic who plays the father, is a Kusturica regular, and has become famous internationally; the late Davor Dujmovic who plays the elder brother plays also the lead role as Perhan in "Time of the Gypsies". Generally speaking, all the acting here is first class.

Also, it isn't so often that the world of adults is shown through the eyes of a child, and when it's done, it is often in a twee or awkward manner. Not at all here. Besides, Kusturica's first work has a very honest and sensitive approach of themes like fatherhood, adultery and betrayal. It 's all lightyears away from the frenzy found in the artist's later work.

Warning : this movie is highly emotional. When I saw it again recently after a long time, I'm not ashamed to say I wept twice, and I'm not a single case. Yet, it is often very funny as well. Note that, unlike many European movies, it ends rather well and on a hopeful note. If you like tragi-comical movies like "the Bicycle Thief", no doubt you will love this too.

The very light sexual allusions and nudity caused an R rating in America. Quite a pity, as this work is far more decent than most releases, and would be a lot more interesting and appealing for young audiences than the idiotic stuff they are used to watch. I would even consider showing this in schools.

Definitely a 10 out of 10, as far as I'm concerned.

I was there, Kusturica took me to Yugoslavia and I breathe the movie.

[andialu · 10/10 · 22 February 1999]

I remember when I saw this movie back in 1986, the people I was with left the theater bored and puzzled because of my reaction to the movie. I can't explain quite well what was that fascinated me so much about the story. I think it was because you can breathe the reality of the story, I swear I was there with the little boy and the suffering of the family. I was there, understanding the complexity, but simplicity at the same time, of the people and history of that part of the world. It is a movie you have to watch to understand and let it take you where Kusturica wants to.

1950s Yugoslavia as seen by a child

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 27 July 2009]

There have been several movies about the adult world as seen by children. "Daniel" and "Matinee" are good examples from the United States. A good one from the former Yugoslavia is Emir Kusturica's "Otac na sluzbenom putu" ("When Father Was Away on Business" in English).

When Sarajevo man Mesa is arrested in 1950 for criticizing a cartoon, his wife Sena has to tell son Malik that the dad is on a business trip. As the movie progresses, Malik comes to understand the political status quo in this country straddling east and west.* Moreover, it becomes clear that Mesa is not the world's most responsible person, preferring to go screw attractive women to raising his son.

One thing is that I like seeing films about cultures that we rarely see. Beyond that, this look at political tensions - and how the boy has to learn about sex on his own - fascinates me. I definitely recommend the movie.

PS: Emir Kusturica also directed "Arizona Dream" (starring Johnny Depp, Jerry Lewis and Faye Dunaway) in the United States) and "Black Cat, White Cat" back in his native country.

*Tito's disagreements with Stalin led to Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Eastern Bloc, so it aligned itself with the west but maintained an Eastern Bloc-style government.

Tradition, Politics, Family relations - excellent!

[rijecka_sirena · 10/10 · 30 August 2006]

A Shu-fan wrote: "The Zolj family is of Jewish origin. The circumcision scene and the later bath of the boy are absolutely comical. Though in difficult time, the innocence of children is expressed in great lovely details, Malik's interest in other sex, his father's predicament… The filming location was Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, a place where the Jews and Muslims were killing each other. Kosovo is another long-stay pain. The body and soul of this region will take a long long time to restore." I just want to say that the family in the movie is not Jewish. They are Bosnian Muslim family and that is why they had a circumcision. Also, to people from ex-Yu is very clear when they hear their names. Their neighbor is Bosnian Serbian family (visible from the scene of the funeral); and Ankica is Bosnian Croatian (they are mostly Roman Catholics). Otherwise, I saw the movie 3 times in the last 15-20 years and every time I saw a different things in the movie, but overall - I just loved it! There is one thing that I have to mention - the subtitles are pretty bad and do not do the justice to the movie - they can be expressed much, much better! I am Kusturica's fan and it is too bad that we can not see more of his movies here in the US. This movie is just beautiful - political situation, family ties, relationships in ex-Yu... seen through the eyes of an innocent child. Beautiful, beautiful!

otac na sluzbenom putu

[grob248 · 27 December 2000]

If you are familiar with Emir Kusturica's work, chances are you probably saw "Underground" or "Times of the Gypsies," or perhaps "Black Cat, White Cat." I guess this earlier film is a bit harder to get into because it is less eccentric than the usual Kusturica fair, and it focuses on a specific point of Yugoslav history, namely the time immediately following the break-up between Tito and Stalin. The film itself is very good, but it would certainly help your perception if you were familiar with historical aspect of it all. Some similarities can be drawn to "Tito i ja" because "Otac.." is seen through a child's point of view, but then it was made something like ten years prior to "Tito i ja," so I guess you should disregard that statement altogether. The film is a drama from start to finish, and like other Kusturica's films, it requires much of emotional involvement as well as some patience. But I definitely like it, although it's not for everyone. I still recommend it, though.

Simply good

[Oliver_Rizmanoski · 7/10 · 27 May 2008]

First of all, I have to admit that I am a big fan of almost all movies directed by Kusturica. I have lived in former Yugoslavia for six years, so there is always more to a movie from Yugoslavia compared to an ordinary or let's say Hollywood-type-of-movie.

There's something magical about this movie. And for me, it is difficult to say exactly what. All I can say is that it makes the movie special. The scenery is beautiful, the acting so vivid, that it looks natural. Maybe it can be a bit confusing if you do not know enough about time and place of the plot.

I also liked that the movie does not depend too much on dialogues, there is no trash-talking at all. And although I like trash-talking very much, it would have spoiled this movie. The way the story is told is rather picturesque. Almost fairytale-like! Having said that, it is not that easy to understand the idea of the movie. But maybe that's because of me :-) Each time I watch the movie, I discover something new, that draws my attention. And I still have not reached the stage where I can say: OK, now I have seen enough. As it is I am looking forward to watching this movie again and hopefully again. There's not much more to say, really. In times when movies are almost only designed to be chewed and swallowed instantly, this one provides a real opportunity to dig deeply.

Brilliant

[Alexandar · 10/10 · 19 February 2004]

When Father was away on Business (1985)**** This great feature is the combination of a genuine story, emotionally charged, authentic expression, supreme inner movie energy and director's ability (mastery) to transmit all of this into the perfectly balanced, aesthetically elegant, touching and effective form. Some people (I know) think this is pretty boring and ordinary story about young boy's maturing in a specific society. There is a BIG difference between this movie and others with the same topic. Difference = cogency, dimension of the used movie elements, involving ability, characterization, leitmotif, milieu richness, inward thrust, story heartbeat, delicacy, depth, implicit sense, specific movie efficiency...

Not My Favorite

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 23 February 2016]

Tito's break-up with Stalin in 1948 marked the beginning of not only confusing, but also very dangerous years for many hard-core Yugoslav communists. A careless remark about the newspaper cartoon is enough for Mesha to join many arrested unfortunates. His family is now forced to cope with the situation and wait for his release from prison. The story is told from the perspective of Malik, his young son who believes the mother's story about father being "away on business".

Now, the director (whose name I won't write because I fear I'll butcher it) is a great artist, and quite possibly the greatest storyteller out of Yugoslavia. Indeed, we do not think of them having a film industry and yet he has made many great works.

But this is not my favorite. I love when he digs his toes into the surreal, and this film fails on that count. There is still a dash of humor here and there, but the film still runs a little too long and is too serious. Subject matter like this probably should be serious, but if his other work is any indication, it has a greater impact when it is not.

More relevant than ever...

[ElMaruecan82 · 8/10 · 11 January 2018]

Reading some of his interviews, I'm not surprised that Emir Kusturica, one of the greatest European directors, despised political movies. Some directors use their movies to make a commentary, which is fine as long as the story allows the viewers to extract the 'political' substance by themselves.

Have you noticed that everything is political today? From the movies to their awards campaign, everything revolves around issues such as race, gender or resulting discrimination, and that trend might inspire some filmmakers to try to have a shot by making something 'relevant' instead of something that speak to them. Today, no one should ever be allowed to be personal about himself unless it's for some political statement likely to inspire claps, cheers and nods. There's nothing wrong with being unpopular but with all the media outrage frenzy of our twitter-driven era, you're only unpopular when you're ostracized, and your detractors can cut off your capacity to reach people.

That's why Kusturica could have never made movies for Hollywood, or under the studio system. That's why, out of all the directors who tell political stories, Kusturica can make the most politically rich movies without being prisoner of one ideological perception. His Golden Palm winning "Underground" could be regarded as a magnificent and epic retrospective of the history of ex-Yugoslavia, but the film is also a vibrant, exuberant and musically driven orgy of booze, sex and passion that says more about the soul of the Balkans than any other thing. Kusturica speaks from the heart and portray characters who generally care about regimes and ideologies in the realm of their personal greed or lust, they're strong but weak, big guys acting like children. So much for political engagement.

And it also seems that Kustrucia, more than any other else, knows one thing or two about human hubris. One of my regrets was to have discovered "Undeground" before Fellini's movies and couldn't spot the connection when I finally discovered the Maestro. Now, I can fix it and say that maybe Kusturica is the most Fellinian director but he's like Fellini with a social commentary, maybe the neo-realisitic Fellini and it shows even more in his first Golden Palm winner "When Father Was Away on Business" (Kusturica is one of the few directors to have won the Palm twice), the story whose euphemistic title doesn't prepare for how sad it is, how dramatic and yet comedic and catching at others. Forgive for the cliché, but "like life I guess".

The film takes place in Sarajevo, in 1950, at the midst of the Stalin Tito Split, the DVD bonus features provide many information, they are so helpful I'd recommend to check them first. In fact, there's an irony in the history of Yugoslavia, the people were proud to fight the Nazis, they didn't totally surrender to Stalin's hegemony, wanting to be treated as an equal, much to the Soviet Master's anger. The film contains many football games between the two countries and you can tell that Yugoslavians are taking their victories damn seriously. The film was made the same year than the Heysel tragedy, just to remind that the setting of the film never deprives from its timeless and universal value. Still, what a tragic irony that this pride was a double-edged sword leading Yugoslavian multiculturalism to cause its downfall.

The Split lead to the formation of a bureau named Informibrio and whose mission was to spot any potential agent of the Soviet or someone malcontent enough to become a troublemaker. It's a sort of Yugoslavian "HUAC" with the same paranoid implications. But Kusturica doesn't shout it clear and loud, he only starts his film with a man singing "Chiquita", that he picked a Mexican song instead of an American or Russian one implicitly tells you the kind of attitudes that can get you in trouble. But sometimes, it can be worse than singing. The pivotal moment occurs when Mesa, a communist functionary played by Miki Manojlovic (he was the unforgettable Marco in "Underground") criticizes a cartoon in newspaper "Politika".

Mesa just state something like "they're really going too far", and the comment wouldn't have taken him too far if it wasn't for his mistress to hear him. Hurt after because he can' divorce from his wife, lshe denounces him to his brother-in-law and it's a matter of a few days to get him arrested and go "far away on business". Then starts a series of life episode involving his patient and enduring wife Mirjana Karanovic (also starring in "Underground") and the two boys, a geeky photography buff played by the late Davor Dujmovic, and a chubby kid Mario De Bartolli, he's the narrator and the film is punctuated with many episodes involving his sleepwalking.

"When Father Was Away on Business" is both a family drama and a touching coming-of-age story that never overplays the pathos or the lyricism. Sarajevo is a town where four religions meet, Kusturica makes the same point by showing a Muslim family, practicing circumcision rituals, an orthodox funeral and people of different backgrounds drinking and dancing together. As if he was sleepwalking during his own journey, Kusturica says the most without saying much, knowing that you're never as touched by a politican story when you can't touch its political content. The film could have been set anywhere, anytime, it doesn't say much about the regime, only the ongoing paranoia when every word can cause your downfall.

And before you consider yourself luck not to have to endure this, remember that, at the midst of the metoo movement, an actor like Damon suffered severe backlash for a comment he made. And how many actors now are "away on business" because of an accusation or a suspicion. Sorry to make these interfere with the movie but while I expected a 1980's drama that would have aged a little, I didn't expect a film to be so relevant.

a child's-eye view of Eastern European politics

[mjneu59 · 7/10 · 14 January 2011]

The background may be confusing to viewers unfamiliar with post-WWII Balkan history, but this was never (thankfully) meant to be a big-screen social studies lesson. The film is a sentimental (but never mawkish) drama of family life behind the Iron Curtain, as seen through the often glazed eyes of an eight-year old Yugoslav boy (prone to episodes of somnambulism) whose father is arrested for making a casual criticism of an editorial cartoon. Rather than taking potshots at easy political targets, director Emir Kusterica focuses instead on smaller, more intimate conflicts, recounting moments of family affection and bitterness with an understated humor transcending national and cultural borders.

"I saw nothing, I heard nothing"

[evening1 · 5/10 · 29 March 2023]

If unhappy people live in a sick and corrupt political system, they can end up feeling even worse.

For me, this is the takeaway from this overly long and lugubrious exploration of life under Tito in early-50s Yugoslavia.

We follow the meanderings of ostensible family man Mesa, whose mistress gets him sent to hard labor for making an offhand remark about the Communists. We also observe the sufferings of his intelligent but resigned wife, and two sons, the younger of whom intervenes when Mesa decides to pummel his spouse right in front of the children.

We see the evils of a political system that pits close relatives against one another, and can leave one asking, "What is the meaning of life?"

Many permutations of the familiar "Anniversary Waltz" run throughout this film, amidst wild chirps and cries of nature.

I generally don't trust Oscar-nominated films to be that good -- one can never underestimate the taste of the general population -- and this one is no exception. Although mildly thought-provoking, it doesn't amount to much.

Not a simple film, a history lesson

[Goldmine-2 · 18 June 2000]

I saw this film one month ago for the first time and I've been really impressed! After having seen the film, I decided to go to Croatia, because I wanted to see what Communism created in ex-Yugoslavia. This film made me curious about history and people of Ex-Yugoslavia. It has been really a lesson for me; everybody should see this movie.

Compelling, Humorous, Thought-Provoking, Timeless Human Story

[kindtxgal · 8/10 · 13 August 2016]

Compelling, humorous, thought-provoking, realistic, timeless. All the ingredients of a great film. No wonder that it was nominated as a Best Foreign Film Oscar.

The film is narrated through the thoughts and words of six-year-old Malik whose father Mesha has been sent to mine coal for a wayward remark made about a newspaper cartoon...and fooling' around (ahem). His innocence translates the often difficult issues for viewers into what could easily have been difficult to watch at times.

I appreciate the film because it is NOT the usual war-ravaged, bloody story of Bosnia/Yugoslavia but a human study on the strengths and weaknesses of each family member capsuled into this fantastic film. The quiet observations compel viewers to see and almost experience the joys & sadness of each character.

Yugoslave Socialism with an Unhappy Face

[FADrury · 7/10 · 2 May 2010]

"When Father was Away on Business" tells a complex story about life in Yugoslavia in the 50's. A man is convicted of what can only be described as an "inproper socialist attitude." However, his real crime is having an affair with the local hot socialist babe (a young Mira Furlan) who's attracted the attention of his brother-in-law, a local party official. The film outlines the impact of this man's arrest and imprisonment on his family, with special focus on his youngest son. The father is finally released, the family survives, but the scars on all sides will never heal.

Noting some of the other reviews, there are details to this film that will likely be lost on the casual viewer. I believed the family was Jewish, only to learn from other reviews that they were actually Muslim. Also, awareness of Yugoslavia's strained relationship with the USSR is helpful. While I found the film interesting, the father's continued philandering made him a rather despicable figure. The young boy's retreat into sleep walking is probably a comment on what it took to survive in that society. The Father-in-Law's desire to act as if nothing had actually happened to his son-in-law is a hint here. The wife is the true martyr in this story, faithful to a cheating husband, willing to finally reach out to her brother who betrayed them both and trying desperately to give her boys a decent life.

A felicitous potpourri

[markmuhl · 9/10 · 26 June 2022]

A childhood in the Tito era shortly after the split from Stalin. Mr. Kusturica uses the eyes of a child to portray a communist society that still existed when the movie was made but is history today. Life is shown as both beautiful and complicated. The latter is not only because of the confusing political times but also because little Malik's Dad, next to being a small-scale communist apparatchik, is also a womanizer which is poison to a happy family life.

He makes another mistake, when making a negative comment on a newspaper cartoon, which shows Stalin observing Karl Marx (a historic impossibility). The result is that he is being sent away from Sarajevo, first to a labor camp and then after a while to Zvornik, to support the building of a waterpower plant. When Malik is told by his mother that his father is on a business trip, we do comprehend the film title.

This early work by Kusturica probably is not as flashy as some of his later "gypsy movies" but the story is more coherent and persuasive. It then was even courageous. It is still colorful though and full of original characters and little surprises like sleepwalking or circumcision scenes (for being a Muslim).

In the end Malik's father is allowed to return to Sarajevo, still being unfaithful while his wife, Malik's mom, is pregnant from her husband again. This is all too much for Malik's Grandpa, who does not like his son-in-law for being a communist. Age sometimes does allow to be honest and so he decides to leave his family and to move to a nearby retirement home, where his grandsons can still come to see him.

In my eyes a well-deserved Palm d'or.

Good despite my confusion

[BrandtSponseller · 7/10 · 10 November 2007]

This is yet another film where I had some problem figuring out many plot elements and character relationships, where some of the blame might rest on having to rely on subtitles. I also do not know much of the complicated history of Bosnia, so that didn't help me to understand the context, either.

It took me at least half the film to figure out all of the character relationships, and this is really a "slice of life" story--albeit set, in the 1950s, in what's apparently a confusing, changing, communist political landscape. But it's important to know each character's relation to other characters as well as a bit of their personal backgrounds and histories with each other--character development is of primary importance, but I'm not sure it was always fleshed-out as it needed to be.

It also didn't help (as it never does in any film) that a few characters looked very similar, and at least one has a major change of appearance, and a major change back. For example, I never was completely clear on whether the woman on the train with the father at the beginning, with whom he was having an affair (he was quite the philanderer), was also the female pilot in the airshow, and also the gym teacher, who was also his brother-in-law's wife. And the reason that the father went away to some kind of prison work camp was never very clear to me either. Ostensibly it was because he made a remark about a cartoon in a newspaper, but that seems ridiculous (although maybe that's more realistic than I can imagine and is part of the point), and I kept thinking that the real reason was for the brother-in-law to get back at him for the affair with the brother-in-law's wife.

In any event, despite my confusion, this is a fairly good film, with great performances. The family's youngest son is at times a narrator and is featured in a poignant subplot, but Otac na sluzbenom putu would have benefited by making him even more of the focus and point of view.

very very good but could have been better

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 13 February 2006]

I was so happy to find this film, as movies about life behind the Iron Curtain are very few and far between here in the US. It was a very interesting slice of life in the former Yugoslavia and featured the story of a man who was sent away for "anti-Communist" remarks. The poor sap, it seems, made a very innocent and harmless comment and because of this he was sent away from his loving family for a couple years for re-education and forced labor. All of this was very interesting. The problem for me was that although you felt for his family, you had a hard time caring for the man because beneath it all he was a major jerk who spent much of the movie being repeatedly unfaithful to his very loving wife. This, unfortunately, served to really blunt the impact of the film. While it COULD be said this humanized the story and made it more complex, I really felt disappointed by this plot choice.

When father was away

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 29 August 2022]

A Yugoslav film by Serbian director Emir Kusturica, this Cold War film won the Palme d'Or at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.

It begins with neighborhood drunk Cika Franjo singing Mexican songs to field workers and avoiding the tunes of the U. S. and U. S. S. R., as Yogoslavia is in a strange time as the country is quite paranoid after the Tito-Stalin Split.

The story is told from the POV of Malik, whose father Mesa was sent to a labor camp but his mother Sena tells him that - true to the title - that his father is away on business, not sent to basically prison by his wife's brother Ziho after Mesa's mistress tells him about a remark that her lover made about a political cartoon.

After working in a mine for several years and his family struggling, they are reunited but must all go to be socially reconditioned. There, Malik falls in love with Masa, the daughter of a Russian doctor, yet she dies quite young and he watches as she is taken away in an ambulance.

At the same time, his father hasn't stopped having affairs, including one with a woman pilot who tries to hang herself from a toilet cord. All during this, Malik begins to sleepwalk and get into strange misadventures.

This is about a time that I never knew of when Tito refuted Stalinism and wanted a different path for Yugoslavia without becoming too much like the West. And while it became the most liberal Communist country of Europe, Tito suppressed internal opposition and both executed and jailed many of his enemies.

I love when film shows us places we could never go and people we would never meet.

Wet sky with many moons

[chaos-rampant · 7 January 2012]

Kusturica can really move me, he's one of very few filmmakers I trust and allow into my life to do that. It is in a very delicate way he can affect, a way that I also know and appreciate deeply from some of the great Zen and Sufi poets. He has that quality, let's call it a duende, of having lived with enough ardor and zest of soul to be able to speak about a sadness that is joy. About pain without ego. Struggle as release.

And on top of that he's so adept with images it hurts. He knows how to frame a small puddle of water so that it reflects entire skies above with many moons, and make the moon seem wet and the waters earthy.

So even though this is a more than fine film and better than most filmmakers accomplished on their second turn behind a camera, I am saddened that it doesn't move me more. This is a rare complaint from me. And this is because I know this man has felt harder than he shows here, and has sung what it means to feel with images that cut deeper. This also cuts, but cuts solemnly, in ordinary way, with mostly serious restraint, with a historic thrust for a respectable account of Yugoslav suffering as the suffering between brothers in law.

It's just not a very enviable or interesting position to want to be the historic chronicler like he's doing here, it just means you have to organize a lot of pedantic detail.

Now I am from around here and can trace roots from every corner of the Balkans to be able to tell that what Kusturica usually writes about is a romance and not an account. This is a frequent complaint of course, acknowledged, moreso from around here where pundits feel somehow threatened or otherwise insulted by this wistful, clowny image broadcast abroad for tourist consumption. So yes, a romance that is about a love and life that is a little more dangerous than from the safe distance of reason, a little more sublime and noble than was today or yesterday, but that is nevertheless imbued with the same reckless spirit that gave rise to the chronicle that Kusturica is only a very recent chapter to.

Meaning this spirit that he has used to make films pre-existed him and carries its own truths from long ago. The family gatherings around food, the common rituals, the stories about honorable scoundrels that may be someone's father or uncle. These songs above all, our main tradition being musical and fiddled continuously on the stage for a few hundred years.

So when he puts it all together, it is not a question of ability that makes a difference and stirs the soul - he was always able, and here just as well - but one of spontaneous creation. There is only a little of that here for my taste, more history. It is touching drama but lacks some of the reflections I prize so much.

Carnival In Kustirica

[writers_reign · 22 February 2005]

This could well be subtitled What Did You Do In The Peace, Daddy, given that a major element is the tomcatting of Malik's old man about five or six years prior to the conflict or, to put it another way, when that country between Italy and Greece was still called Yugoslavia. The film works on many levels but unfortunately several are unaccessible by those without an excellent working knowledge of the Balkan situation. But not to worry because we're still left with a rich storyline involving seduction, corruption, family squabbles, incarceration and one of Kusturica's specialities a set-piece wedding. Acting honors are divided equally and if the photography is only so-so what do you want, blood? Oh, you do. Well stick around. About five or six years.