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.
Review of When Father Was Away on Business
