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.
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.