Emir Kusturica’s Underground: A nation that ceased to exist
Print
A quiet Balkan town wakes up to festive sound from a drunken stupor. The ominous brass composition is interspersed with gun shots and money is hurled in the air. The euphoria fades into the sound of war, bombs piercing the harmony of a nation. A man is seen to be having an insipid love making act in a whore house. The woman is hurriedly faking orgasm with moaning. She escapes in horror but the man persists and jacks off to the sound of catastrophe as the town explodes. Another man is seen to enjoy his meal while the chandelier lands on his plate with the shudder of air raids. He is clearly not moved but is worried that an elephant is swiping his shoes off the window. A retarded kid is running a zoo and is seen to be bottle feeding a baby monkey. As the commotion of war engulfs the zoo there is chaos and animals go berserk. The baby monkey’s mother is seen bleeding while the kid shuts her eyes in repulsion. Three epic wars are seen from the self-annihilating lives of three men while a nation ceases to exist. Once upon a time there was a country; Yugoslavia.
Emir Ksuturica’s Palme D’or winning epic film Underground is a poetic amalgamation of genres; socio-cultural and political satire, musicals, war-docu drama, apocalypse, comedy, surrealism and above all the human exploration of power, love and integrity. Through the elaborate exploits of its war torn protagonists – aggressive yet naïve Blacky(Lazar Ristovski), the intellectual yet conspiring Marko (Miki Manojlovic) and the innocent Ivan, Kusturica has painted a delirious recreation of erstwhile Yugoslavia’s devastating history from being a Nazi-occupied territory during World War II, through Communist regime during Cold War, to the ugly Balkan Wars that resulted in the disintegration of the country along ethnic lines. The plot also involves the three timing Natalija (Mirjana Jokovic).
The film is shown in three episodes: In part I, we are introduced to Belgrade at the behest of evil Nazi invasion. Marko and Blacky are part of the anti-fascist resistance and they are minting profits from the war, and so they are able to make love and eat in peace while their country burns. Natalija, an over the top actress at the theatre is a mistress to Blacky. Blacky is kidnapped by the Nazis during his attempt to get married to Natalija. Marko saves him but sends him underground hiding from the war while he seduces Natalija with power, poetry and alcohol.
In part II, Marko and Natalija become an integral part of the communist movement under Tito. Marko convinces Blacky, his brother Ivan and others that the war is raging and makes them live underground in the basement for over 20 years. All through the while he makes them work on ammunition and weapons in order to profit from the sale. In Part III, Yugoslavia no longer exists. Yet, Blacky is out in the world, fighting for his country and searching for his dead son; Marko and Natalija are in hiding but are still war profiteers.
One of the most significant metaphors of the film is the underground itself. It’s a sign of how people are kept ignorant, of the anarchy created by Marko in Tito’s Yugoslavia. There are interesting shots of how Marko comes to power; morphed historical footages show Marko meeting important personalities to influence his carrier in the communist party. In the underground people ride a bicycle in the air making the cycle bulb turn on and show light at a woman’s womb, waiting for the miracle of life. Babies become old enough to marry. Kids run around playing football. This is a world in itself. There is a fraternity formed by Tito’s revolution but is also orchestrated by Marko’s farce about the non-existent war. While on metaphors, another poignant scene in the film shows a wounded tiger troubled by a bird.
Finding the tiger helpless, the bird tries to poke its beak into the dying animal. The bird is finally killed by the tiger. This is an extremely complex scene which shows the fragility of corrupted power. For me this scene is a premonition to Marko’s and Ivan’s end which the director has beautifully placed as a subliminal construct.
Kusturica’s hyperbolic cinematic construct is not an assembly on political polemics but is an aesthetic meditation on human behavior. Aided by an astounding score by Goran Bergovic, the film meanders from avant-garde cinema to the realm of commercial over the top fun. The brass band compositions throughout the film alleviate the irony of war and the ignorance of the people underground. It’s relentless, uniquely Balkan energy fuels the film, functioning as an endless shot of adrenalin for both the characters and the audience. The score is made so conspicuous that the band literally follows Marko and Blacky everywhere, even when they take a leak in the woods. The music has even inspired Anurag Kashyap for Dev.D. The initial scene where Dev returns home while a brass band follows him, is a actually a homage to the opening scene from Underground.
Satire is a strong element of Underground. In fact, it won’t be wrong to call it a film based on dark humor. Blacky’s wife Vera is in labor pain and she cries out “Where are you now, you Blacky bastard?” Marko getting off to the sound of Belgrade burning (subtly reminds of Pedro Almodovar’s film Matador where the protagonist is jacking off to watching horror exploitation films). There is subtle humor too; Blacky is getting married to Natalija and he keeps asking throughout “where is the priest?” to everyone around. One man answers “The priest will arrive any moment now” and the Germans come at the exact instant and abduct Blacky. The humor goes on to another level here; In the outside world a film is being made on Blacky’s life which has been falsely narrated by Marko to the world. Blacky escapes the underground and ends up seeing the crew of the film with Germans. He believes the war is continuing because of the actors. So he believes the unreal film to be reality which is actually based on unreal citations of his life.
Kusturica’s directorial virtuosity lies in his fine balance; calculated satire, outstanding images and cinematic tapestry of ingenuous characterization. In the initial scenes, as the city burns, Ivan is roaming in the hopeless town with his zoo animals. The irony of these characters is immediately displayed with Blacky lighting up his cigar from the ashes that remain from the bombs and then polishing his shoe with the fur of a crying cat. Though he is shown that way, the director immediately cuts to Blacky offering milk to the baby monkey. It sums up his character; hard on emotions, cold, aggressive but yet benevolent; like Robin Hood. He even comments that he steals from the rich for the poor. There are some pure cinematic moments that make this film a tour de force in world cinema history. Natalija in a red dress, soaked in guilt, does the Freudian dance in front of erect cannon ( show in the poster). This shot is extremely layered; on one side it communicates the obvious Freudian pretext on the other side it actually emphasizes how the Balkan community is seduced by the war and Tito’s revolution. Natalija’s dance in a red dress conveys the frailty of a society drugged on the revolution and which is fooled by a fictitious war.
The finale is what consumed me, the images that stayed with me for days; Tarkovsky on steroids. Ivan has finally broken free from the prison and lost his monkey that he grew up with underground for decades. His country exists no more, no home to go to. He realizes Marko, his own brother has planned this elaborate farce. He finds him in a weapon trafficking deal with a group ( Kusturica in a cameo). Marko is now on a wheel chair fleeing from the civil war championed by Blacky . Ivan bludgeons Marko to death on his wheel chair. Natalija comes to rescue but is also killed on the chair in the ensuing battle. The civil war perpetrators set them on fire. The burning chair with Marko and Natalija revolves around a cross with Jesus strung inverted. There are layers of meaning in this shot even beyond the contours of cinema.
Ivan finally finds redemption by hanging himself to the abandoned church bell. A goose is shown escaping in slow motion from the church in the smoke drenched skies. The last scene of the film shows a surreal land where all the characters of the film are celebrating a wedding in happiness. The piece of land slowly cuts off and ebbs away into the sea while Ivan speaks to the audience; “Once upon a time there was a country; Yugoslavia”
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
The film did have an outstanding score. And yes, I also felt that the DevD soundtrack had a lot of Kusturica influence. The film itself is so multi-layered delving deep into characters and politics. Philosopical, satirical, metaphorical and reflecting deep concern about greed and exploitation. This film for me goes beyond great cinema. It is great literature written in cinematic language. It is a great, voluminous and timeless work of art. Salaam Kusturica.
loading...
Thanks Hansal bhai! When I finished my review, I felt like I was not even half done. There was so much to discuss but then I didnt want to make it a very long boring review, not that it isn’t now
Very True, this film is beyond Cinema. Literature, Art, Poetry, Politics, History, Psychology, Cinema, Music…. Salaam Kusturica to do that!
loading...
nice! i saw some clips of Underground on youtube..Though i don’t understand Serb, and the clips were without subtitles, they were gripping!
I read somewhere that the director’s cut of Underground was more than 320 mins long! Genius!
loading...
Yeah I read that too but sad part is; it is difficult to find the 320 mins version. You could see some sudden jumps in the current version. I am still searching to own a collector’s edition of this film, hard to find!
loading...
I’ve seen the 320 mins version last week at the Torino Film Festival…it’s fantastic, but I can’t find this version in dvd…
loading...
UNDERGROUND is a unique film, the unusual narration captures the feelings of a yugoslavian
loading...
Very True!I almost felt like a Yugoslavian when Ivan realizes that his country doesn’t exist anymore
loading...
where do you get the DVD’s from? I am an ignoramus as far as world cinema is concerned..Missing out on so many good ones..I realize only when I read such reviews
loading...
Currently there are 3 labels- NDTV Lumeire,Palador and UTV World Movies which sell World Cinema in India.The DVD’s are priced around 399.you can also catch up with most of these on TV- UTV World Movies.But for titles not available with these people there’s only one obvious option
Neeraj- I’ll have to watch t
loading...
Neeraj- I’ll have to watch it soon & then comment.your post has whetted my appetite for it!!!
loading...
For me personally it is one of the five best films ever made on this planet!
loading...
Which are the other four
loading...
redefined satire forever. and he set the benchmark so so so damn high….there is never ever going to be a film thats going to match this.
And as with all great film…he went down too after this.
# Time of the Gypsies, 1988
# Arizona Dream, 1993
# Underground, 1995
# Black Cat, White Cat (Crna ma?ka, beli ma?or), 1998
His life mission is complete. he is the DUDEST OF THE DUDES.
loading...
@ Rahul: Even Shemaroo offers world cinema. I dont like the box DVDs they always have the worst movies of a director packed into the set.
@Sethu: Will wait for your reactions :-)
@Suparn: So agree with you. In fact I have framed the film poster in my room, just beside Kieslowski’s Blue
@Vasan: Have you seen “When Father Was Away on Business ?” I dont know how good it is…
loading...
When Father Was Away on Business ?
got hold of a copy…will be watching it soon
loading...
@Neeraj – For a cinemoron in a well like me, your posts are extremely liberating, educational and at the same time a sad reminder of how much I have to catch up. However thanks to you, I have a list to begin with though!!
The images that you have posted in themselves are extremely provocative. Kudos on a great post and congrats on watching a fabulous movie and thanks for sharing it.
loading...
@VPJ touch ho gaya by god. By the way I am sailing the same boat. I have some 150 films ( literally) enqueued and hardly can find time to watch them. I try and watch at least one film in 2 days. And when I have to write a post I take 7-8 hours to watch one film. I pause and write notes at every frame. Of the notes, about 30% goes in to the post. And then my list goes on and on of the films to watch. I am glad I am making at least one person to watch films like these. My intent in this review is fulfilled.
loading...
That’s a nice suggestion.
I am going to take this mission up, keeping your suggestion in mind..
loading...
Hmm thats an interesting funda- have always thought of something similar- at times I pause and spend some thinking on various lines before getting back to the movie.but the constant debate in my mind is – all this is fine for the reviewer/writer in me, but am I making the cinema lover/viewer in me suffer by doing this?tough question, no answer so far!!!
loading...
Sethu, I forgot to mention another thing which should answer your question. First, I watch a film. Then it haunts me for sometime for few days or months ( like Kieslowki’s Three colors blue) until I am tempted to review it. When I am convinced to write about it, thats when I go through the 7-8 hour process of pausing at every frame. Now this wont help when you are reviewing the latest flicks. Thats why I usually end up reviewing classics.Also the film should intrigue the cinemoron ( Courtesy VPJ)in me thats when I can write about a film and not necessarily when I only enjoy a film.
loading...
Neeraj I got the drift.I wasnt even thinking of the latest flicks here.99% of the time I anyways watch them on the big screen- so no such option anyways.plus most of them dont touch me so much to do a lot of introspection on it.maybe I can look at doing this for a 2nd viewing of the movie which shakes me.the debate that I told was in terms of first time viewing.
loading...
Sethu, I actually meant to bring the latest flick thingie only because its only in new films you dont have an option and will have to have a one time viewing. What I really mean is that you cant do this in theatre. It has to be a viewing in isolation for me. Well, for your actual argument, seems like there is no logical way out. Its very difficult to alienate the viewer in you from the cinemoron. Its like how Anurag watches world cinema. I read this somewhere that he initially starts by watching a film without subtitles, that makes the visuals and sound more accessible , then he watches the same film with subtitles. How I wish our brain cells were advanced enough to remember every frame of a film for an entire week. That should be something
loading...
Another great film by Kusterica is Black Cat White Cat…one of funniest movies I’ve seen…
loading...
Yeah Neeraj that would be fantastic.Well the argument/debate in my mind continues.but still I’ll try what your saying when I’m making a re-watch@ home of a movie that moves me immensely.another point to note is that this has to be done in isolation- if you watch a movie in 7-8 hours with family or friends, one may get thrown out of home
loading...
I am not much into world cinema but I am bowled by the way you write. In every film you write about the hidden meaning behind people’s actions… metaphors and scenes. Like the tiger scene you explained here or the lady in the poster and Freud… Amazing! You should write… like a book or a film or something
loading...
Thanks man! If you see all that in a film, you should get into watching world cinema. Somehow the hollywood cinema doesnt interest me as much as European cinema. Its more layered and subtle. I dont know if I want to be writing a book, may be at the fag end of my life but right now kind of feel like writing a script
loading...
really loved arizona dream will give this a dekkho for SURE
loading...
only kusturuca movie i have seen is Sjecas li se Dolly Bell…& loved it totally….i have underground in my HDD but never saw it…i think i’ll watch it now…thnx for reminding…
loading...
@Jitaditya and @Vivek Venkatraman: I am glad my review makes you want to watch this gem of a film
loading...
just watched it….hadn’t read the full article to avoid spoilers..read it now…it’s almost three hours long but not a single dull moment…I wonder how they blended incessant humor with such a subject matter…awesome!
loading...
@jitaditya: I dont know, its a silly thing but I am feeling so happy that my review makes someone watch a film and even appreciate it. Like I said before the purpose of this review is fulfilled.
loading...
neeraj,
personally i feel Kusturica’s most honest work is When Father was away on business. its really hard to delve into a kid’s mind and tell a story in that manner. Kiarostami can do it and so can Kusturica.
i have a copy – of 4 kusturica films. the rare ones include “do u remember Dolly Bell? his first film.
and guess what? i had the opportunity to work with one of Kusturica’s fav DoP – Michel Amatieu. He had been to India for a film that is soon going to come to theaters.
loading...
Hardik, I am immediately watching “When Father was away on business”. And i am dying to come to Mumbai, the treasure trove of cinema. It must have been awesome fun to have worked with Michel Amatieu. You should blog here about your experiences, btw what is the film that is about to release?
loading...
its Dev benegal’s film “Road, Movie” starring abhay deol
and u are welcome – there are ppl who have amazing film collections here. all teh best
loading...
With a name like that, with a director like that, with an actor like that and with a DoP like that, I am definitely keen on knowing more. I read up somewhere that the film has Abhay touring India with old camera gear on a truck in search of, well, himself. Sounds promising. We need lot of road movies in India, I love the genre.
loading...
Perhaps the makers of this film felt that using comedy (black comedy) as means of telling the horrors of Yugoslavia’s bloody history would make it accessible to a wider audience. I refuse to accept this theory. An important film must be told with in the way history normally is – gritty and often dark. I am however in favour of the dramatization of events keeping intact the historical aesthetics.
loading...
Actually there has been substantial amount of debate that took place following the film’s release. It was accused of spreading Serbian nationalist propaganda, misrepresentation of the Balkan ethnic groups etc. I wanted to stay away from the political undercurrent of the film ( that would be a subject in itself)and discuss the cinematic aesthetics of this masterpiece.
loading...