When father was away on business
Sunday, October 4th, 2009
Do you like Emir Kusturica? He probably is one of my absolutely favorite directors, must be in top 5…
I first fell in love with his movies when I watched Life is a Miracle, a beautiful love story set against the Bosnian conflict. I was absolutely hooked after seeing Black Cat White Cat which I have seen several times and enjoyed it every single time as much as the first one. Underground firmed up my relationship with Kusturica’s films.
Gypsy culture and, especially, music play important part in his movies, he somehow manages to create a total chaos on screen with instruments, multiple characters and often animals, that play big part of his work. Heavy political referencing is usually the case showing suffering of the nation.
Last week I reached for his older work – When Dad Was Away On Business. Set in communist Yugoslavia in the 50s film tells a story about a family through little boy’s eyes. When the father gets sent to a labor camp for a small remark about a political cartoon the children are told he is away on business.
A great portrait of Yugoslavia led by Tito after his break up with Stalin, showing confusion of many Yugoslav communists and proving that you can’t trust anyone, not even your own family. The films has got the classic Kusturica elements: music (Mexican in this case, the safest so nobody offends the party), family, party scene and political background mixed with humor.
I have few more of his movies left to see and I am already looking forward to them all.
