Miehitetty kaupunki

My dad’s been telling me about this movie since I’ve been a kid. He said that they considered it one of the most brutal Balkan movies that they used to show in the cinemas back then. But I’d correct that a bit – the movie itself isn’t that brutal, it’s actually just a really boring affair set in the gorgeous locations of the old Dubrovnik. But if you last till the very end, you’ll get your reward in the form of a truly disgusting bus scene where the Ustasha show everybody who they actually were. It was disgusting and then some. But I must admit that I haven’t seen a more brutal scene from Balkans. (28.02.2014)

This film once caused a commotion in Czech movie theaters by depicting the brutal violence practiced by the Ustasha against their real and presumed opponents. The bus ride, where the executioners pounded nails into the heads of their victims and gouged out eyes to save opticians some work, shocked and contributed to the peculiar popularity of the film at a time when there was practically no official distribution of B-movie horrors and exploitation films. For film fans, encountering something like this was absolutely exceptional given the censorship and ideological barriers. However, these mentioned shots are only a fraction of the total length of the film. While some directors, such as the Czech Vláčil, have a favorite creative method of telling the stories of their characters and conveying something about the time and historical events through their destinies, Zafranović approaches it differently and his characters are merely tools to capture the historical processes described from the perspective of supporters of the Yugoslav form of communism. The atmosphere of old Dubrovnik with its palaces and historical patina also plays a significant role in the film. Zafranović portrays the shock of the fall of royal Yugoslavia, the beginnings of political violence, and the emergence of the ideological crossroads that led to irreconcilable hatred between former friends and often led to the division of family members. Overall impression: 75%. (12.03.2014)