Serbian cinematography has come a long way since its humble beginnings. The first motion picture ever shown in Serbia, as well as in the entire Balkans, was presented in 1896, in Belgrade. Even king Aleksandar Obrenović and queen Natalija attended the showing. Serbia was among the pioneers who recognized the potential of motion pictures. The very first demonstration of picture-show in the world, as they called it at the time, occurred in France, and just six months later the citizens of Belgrade enjoyed the viewing.
Eight years later, the first Serbian recording depicted the coronation of king Petar (Peter) Karadjordjević. There were 12 movies shot before the World War II, however the true bloom of Serbian cinematography was right after it. And now, we will lead you on a journey through some of the best Serbian movies of all times.
We will start with the Serbian classic – Who’s Singin’ Over There?, shot in 1980. The plot revolves around a group of passengers on their way to Belgrade, who board a shabby, decrepit bus.
This little not-so-merry group consisted of the bus conductor, Mr. Krstić, his son Miško, the driver, corpselike passenger, two gypsies who were especially fond of singing and playing tunes related to doom and despair, a seasoned war veteran, old woman, singer, two newlyweds, and a Nazi sympathizer.
On their way to Belgrade, numerous mishaps happen along the way. They’ve got a flat tire, then they somehow managed to reach the nearly-collapsed wooden bridge, which they were supposed to cross of course, and among other things, they ran into military checkpoint, attended a funeral, and ran out of dirt road, since a farmer ploughed it. All in all, the movie is woven with dark humor and filled with comic situations.
Fun Facts: While they were filming, the actors thought that they were actually shooting their worst movie ever, but it turned out to be the best Serbian movie in the past 50 years. The entire shooting took 24 days to complete.
Next, we have yet another classic – the Marathon Family, shot in 1982. The plot revolves around several generations of Topalovićs, who are in burial business for ages, and who are fighting for the inheritance of a recently deceased patriarch Pantelija.
They believed that Pantelija, who was 150 years old, had hidden the will somewhere. Other Topalovićs are, as follows: Maksimilijan, Pantelija’s 126 years old son, Aksentije, who was 102, Milutin 79, Laki 44, and the youngest Mirko was 24 years old. While they are at war with each other, they are still trying to run the funeral home, and instead of making coffins, they dig up and steal them, and re-sell them as new. Greed and clash of generations, spiced up with unique Balkan humor puts this movie on a definite best-of list.
Fun Facts: The scene where Djenka is trying to escape the jaws of a stray dog by reaching the doors of Topalovićs’ funeral home, and then knocking on the glass doors and breaking it in the process – wasn’t scripted at all. But the director liked it, and it was so spontaneous that it simply had to become a part of the movie.
Balkan Spy is the movie that depicts the paranoia in humorous light, and it’s shot in the 1984. Main character Ilija had spent several years in jail as a political prisoner, and after he was called in for a routine questioning by the police, he had gotten into his head somehow that his tenant was actually a spy.
Next thing you know, Ilija is stalking the businessman and conducting all of the surveillance so that he could expose a spy who threatens his country.
Even in the era of great economic crisis, the 90’s still birthed many great movies which became a Serbian must-see motion pictures. The movie We are not angels, shot in 1992, had a cult following since its first showing.
The plotline depicts a wager between an angel and the devil who are watching over young playboy Nikola. He slept with basically every girl in town, but he got a sweet honor student Marina pregnant.
While he battles mostly with himself and what to do about pregnancy, the angel and the devil are doing everything they can to win the wager – will he or won’t he fall in love with Marina? The second part, We are not angels 2, revolves around Nikola’s and Marina’s baby girl coming of age, which Nikola simply cannot accept.
Some say that many Balkan movies in the 90’ had such a huge success because the country was under the embargo at the time, so there were no Hollywood blockbusters and something had to fill the void. Be that as it may, Serbia still has a lot of quality films to offer, which are truly a gem of Serbian cinematography.
In 1996, Pretty Village, Pretty Flame saw the light of the day, or better say movie theater. The movie is based on true events, and tells a story about Serbian soldiers being trapped in a tunnel by Bosnians.
Main characters are Milan, a Bosnian Serb and Halil, a muslim and a Bosnian, and their former friendship and childhood. When the war came knocking on their doors, both joined opposite sides. The culmination starts to unravel once the Serbian squad is pinned in the tunnel, and anybody who tries to leave is shot by the Bosnians.
The plot develops further and tries to tackle an important, if not main question – why do the countries of former Yugoslavia go to war with each other?
And now, we come to the one of the top grossing movies in Serbia – Zona Zamfirova. It’s a love story based on a novel by Stevan Sremac, where Zona, a wealthy daughter of a nobleman, and Mane, a common goldsmith fall in love, while her parents disapprove and want to find her a better match.
Mane employs cunning tactics and gets the girl in the end. The movie, set in the city of Niš, perfectly depicts the life and the social norms of that time. This film was released in 2002, and the sequel is currently being filmed.
Next, we have a true Serbian underdog story. Montevideo: Taste of a Dream, shot in 2010, tells an interesting story about a football team from Serbia, comprised of players who are unknown to the world but have immense talent, and who have made it to the First World Football Championship in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1930. The movie revolves around their personal lives and everything that happened which honed them into a winning team, but also it depicts Belgrade, society and social norms of the 30ies.
The Parade is a comedy-drama that tackles a LGBT rights issues in Serbia. The movie is about a gay couple, whose paths cross with a homophobic criminal turned legit and his soon to be trophy wife. Mirko, a gay activist who specializes in event planning and management, tries to organize a parade, and his boyfriend Radmilo is a successful veterinarian. When Limun’s criminal past comes knocking on his door, his beloved dog is seriously hurt in the process, and Radmilo saves the dog’s life.
Limun’s future wife Biserka wants to hire Mirko as her wedding planner, but when all 4 of them are in the same room, things go horribly wrong. Mirko sees a way to make everything right between Limun and Biserka, and strong-arms Limun to organize a security for the parade.
Director Srdjan Dragojević said it was his civic duty to make this film, and perhaps change the point of view about LGBT rights for the better.
These are only some of the most beloved, top-grossing Serbian movies that have a cult following. So we suggest you buy a DVD, pop some corns, sit back and enjoy in the gems of Serbian cinematography.
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