Underground [Blu-ray]

Director: Emir Kusturica Emir Kusturica

Overview

This allegorical European black comedy examines the past 50 years, between 1941 and 1992 in Yugoslavia's history. The subtitled film is over three hours long, and is divided into three segments. The protagonists are band-leader Marko and his best friend Blacky who in Belgrade, 1941, were simultaneously communist patriots and racketeers. When the Nazis invade Belgrade, the men take their families down to an enormous wine cellar where the rebels have set up an underground munitions factory. There Blacky's wife dies while giving birth; he later begins wooing an actress who throws him over for a Nazi, whom Blacky shoots. Unfortunately, the German survives and Blacky is arrested. Fortunately, Marko saves him, and as his friend recuperates from the torture, Marko sleeps with the actress. Even as the Allied bombers destroy the remains of Belgrade, the treacherous Marko convinces the subterranean refugees that the war is still in effect and that they must continue making arms to be prepared when Tito calls for them. Twenty years pass, and the refugees, living on dog food, are still hard at work, cheerfully making guns to save their country. Meanwhile, Marko has become an prominent party official. He and his wife, the actress, continue to sell illegal arms and drugs. The situation for them is very good until Marko's brother discovers his treachery and all hell breaks loose.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/20/2018
UPC:	0738329208868
Original Release:	1995
Rating:	NR
Source:	Kino Classics
Region Code:	A
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	8:17:00
Sales rank:	25,126

Special Features

Once Upon a Time Thre Was a Country - Six-Part TV version of Underground (327 minutes); Booklet essay by Giorgio Bertellini, author of the monograph Emir Kusturica; Shooting Days - 1996 documentary on the making of Underground; Behind-the-Scenes footage; Trailer; Interviews with Cast and Crew

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Miki Manojlovic	Marko,Marko
Mirjana Jokovic	Natalija
Emir Kusturica	Dealer
Lazar Ristovski	Petar Popara/Blacky
Slavko Stimac	Ivan
Ernst Stötzner	Franz
Srdan Todorovic	Jovan,Golub
Mirjana Karanovic	Vera
Milena Pavlovic	Jelena
Bata Stojkovic	Deda,Deda
Davor Dujmovic	Bata
Branislav Lecic	Mustafa
Erol Kadic	Janez
Predrag Zagorac	Tomislav
Hark Bohm	Dr. Strasse
Petar Kralj	Dr. Mirkovic
Pierre Spengler	Russian Driver
Nele Karajlic	Falling Gypsy
Branko Cvejic	Captain
Dragan Nikolic	Film Director,Investigator No. 2
Josif Tatic	Police Inspector
Zdena Hurtecakova	Fat Lady
Tanja Kecman	Script
Albena Stavreva	Girl from the Tunnel
Elizabeta Dorevska	Woman Prompter
Peter Mountain	Officer
Mirsad Tuka	Investigator No. 1
Desa Biogradlija	Lady in the Theater Box
Zoran Miljkovic	Partisan No. 1
Dusan Rokvic	Partisan No. 2
Radovan Markovic	Commando
Miodrag Dordevic	Assistant Director
Ljiljana Jovanovic	Prostitute
Danica Zdravic	Boat Dancer
Stojan Sotirov	Driver in Tunnel
Rick Dano	Partisan
Goran Bregovic	Composer

Technical Credits

Emir Kusturica

Dusan Kovacevic

Emir Kusturica	Director,Screenwriter
Maksa Catovic	Producer
Karl Baumgartner	Producer
Pierre Spengler	Producer,Executive Producer
Dusan Kovacevic	Screenwriter
Slobodan Dedeic	Casting
Martin Kulhanek	Special Effects
Ladislav Lahoda	Stunts
Miodrag Raevic-Pigi	Stunts
Roman Tudzaroff	Special Effects
Petar Zivkovic	Special Effects
Marko Rodic	Sound/Sound Designer
Svetolik Zajc	Sound/Sound Designer
François Grault	Sound/Sound Designer
Bruno Tarrière	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Emir Kusturica's Underground is a rambunctious, hyperbolic epic that has nothing less than the modern history of Yugoslavia as its subject. Divided into three parts, the movie begins with the country's struggle against the Nazis in World War II, segues into its Communist phase during the Cold War, and ends with Yugoslavia's disintegration during the ethnic wars that racked the Balkans in the 1990s. Employing his trademark magic-realist vernacular, Kusturica cobbles together a seemingly jerry-built saga. This blatantly allegorical movie portrays post-WWII Yugoslavia as an incoherent, Bosch-ian mess, pulled apart by deception, debauchery, and authoritarianism. Recalling Fellini at his most extravagant, as well as Volkor Schlondorff's The Tin Drum, Kusturica serves up a gallery of grotesque, outsized characters and a sustained rush of surreal excess. The crazed and cluttered mise-en-scène threatens to burst the frames at the seams, and works as a visual correlative to the moral chaos at the heart of Yugoslavia's collapse. For all its originality and technical brilliance, the movie met with controversy in its initial release in Europe. Some critics read its take on Yugoslav history -- particularly its attribution of the country's collapse to its Communist legacy rather than the aggression of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic -- as an apologia for Serbia, a reading Kusturica heatedly disputed. The controversy, largely ignored in the U.S., led the Bosnian-born filmmaker to announce his retirement, a declaration he broke in less than a year when he went to work on his next film, Black Cat, White Cat.