When Father Was Away On Business (1985)

The childish vision about t a struggling and opressive reality!

This movie is a real magic portrait about a boy's coming of age in' 50s Yugoslavia. Malik is the main starring of this brilliant exercise of existential raving about a man who lives according his own rules, he philanders with a voluptuous woman who at the same time is a lover of a sinister Government' s functionary who finds the perfect pretext to send him to a labor camp because his unrepentant irreverence respect a smart and acidic cartoon; that's why Milik's father argues he will be away on business.

The first masterwork of Emir Kusturica is filled of visible provincialism (which reminds us to the first stage of Federico Fellini) where the humour, customs and livings of the simple people is mirrored with inimitable good taste and sensibility. Malik is also a sleepwalker (which works out a sharp metaphor of closing the eyes to ignore the surrounding reality).

Kusturica in Yugoslavia represented what Wajda (Ashes and diamonds) in Poland, Angelopoulos in Greece, Tarkovsky in U.R.S.S. or Berlanga in Spain: to express crude realities inthese Totalitarian regimes, although Kusturica bet for the light comedy, and it's not a mere casualty the imminent collapse of the iron curtain has been so near.

For Kusturica fans, this work is a real cult movie and for lovers of cinema Kustuirica (Times of Gypsies and Underground) the first of future projects that have become him in one of the most important filmmakers of the world.

Absolutely recommended that received the Cannes Award as Bes picture, 1985.
March 3, 2008

Life Under Tito

"When Father was away on Business" is a movie that I became aware of because it was a nominee for Best Foreign Language Oscar. I have found that to be an interesting source of otherwise unheralded movies worth watching. This movie was certainly interesting. It is a Bosnian movie that examines the life in Communist Yugoslavia some thirty years early. There is a clear focus on the dangers of speaking freely in a totalitarian society. The results of such an indiscretion is what father was "away on business" for. Yet, after a period of forced labor, papa's punishment seemed a lot less restrictive. Indeed, when his freedom came, I had forgotten that he was still serving a sentence or being "re-educated" or whatever. Father is an interesting character but he disappoints us a lot.

The focus of the movie is on the young boy Malik. He's about 8 or 9 years old and serves as our narrator. This is very effective (somewhat along the lines of "My Life as a Dog") and gives us a humorous perspective of the tainted world we're observing. Malik has a bad habit of sleepwalking and become quite acrobatic in his wanderings. He's a good kid who tries to do right but doesn't always succeed. His mother is a strong woman who clearly deserved better (such as a better husband, a better brother, a better father) but at least she has her two boys.

I'm glad I took the opportunity to watch this movie. The scenes of life in Yugoslavia interested me as well as the inter-actions of the cast of characters with one another. I do not consider this a "Great" movie but I do consider it a movie worth watching if for no other reason than for the opportunity to get to know Malik. March 1, 2008

Good despite my confusion

*** May contain spoilers ***

This is yet another film where I had some problem figuring out many plot elements and character relationships, where some of the blame might rest on having to rely on subtitles. I also do not know much of the complicated history of Bosnia, so that didn't help me to understand the context, either.

It took me at least half the film to figure out all of the character relationships, and this is really a "slice of life" story--albeit set, in the 1950s, in what's apparently a confusing, changing, communist political landscape. But it's important to know each character's relation to other characters as well as a bit of their personal backgrounds and histories with each other--character development is of primary importance, but I'm not sure it was always fleshed-out as it needed to be.

It also didn't help (as it never does in any film) that a few characters looked very similar, and at least one has a major change of appearance, and a major change back. For example, I never was completely clear on whether the woman on the train with the father at the beginning, with whom he was having an affair (he was quite the philanderer), was also the female pilot in the airshow, and also the gym teacher, who was also his brother-in-law's wife. And the reason that the father went away to some kind of prison work camp was never very clear to me either. Ostensibly it was because he made a remark about a cartoon in a newspaper, but that seems ridiculous (although maybe that's more realistic than I can imagine and is part of the point), and I kept thinking that the real reason was for the brother-in-law to get back at him for the affair with the brother-in-law's wife.

In any event, despite my confusion, this is a fairly good film, with great performances. The family's youngest son is at times a narrator and is featured in a poignant subplot, but Otac na sluzbenom putu would have benefited by making him even more of the focus and point of view. November 10, 2007

When Father Was Away on Business

Director Kusturica's triumph evocatively portrays a challenging time and place, and against this grim backdrop, goes on to paint a warmer portrait of childhood innocence and imagination, as the adorable Malik manages to put a hopeful, fantastic spin on circumstances and events unfolding around him. Manojlovic injects tremendous pathos into the character of Mesha, an all-too-human fellow caught in an inhuman system. A painfully honest, heartfelt work. July 10, 2007

Sleepliving Under Communism

I think the little boy's sleepwalking is a sort of metaphor for life in general in communist Yugoslavia in the early 1950s. This movie shows how even the most mild comment could result in imprisonment. It also shows how one evil relative could ruin the lives of his sister's family by his blind allegiance to the Party line. So, the only way to cope was to sleepwalk through life. However, this is also a strong family story of survival. Even though the father could not seem to remain faithful to his wife, he clearly did love her and he especially loved his two sons. So, the family pulls together to cope with both communism and infidelity. This isn't the kind of movie that gives one a good feeling at the surprising climax; it is more a picture or slice of life under communism.

Several of the synopsis and reviews of this movie show it at 144 minutes; however, the DVD sold in the U.S. shows it at 135 minutes. If that is right, I suspect that nine minutes have been censored because of the children's nakedness. I did think that the circumcision of Mesha seemed strange. At one point you see the surgical tools being clipped to his penis or near it, then suddenly he is recovering in bed. Also, there is a bath scene where Mesha's little girl friend, also about seven years old, is bathing. He starts to get into the tub with his under-shorts on, and she says to take them off. He does, and then they have a little conversation as they bathe about how he was changed when he was circumcised. They do show the two looking at each other's genitals in the clear water, and both are clearly seen. However, they are so innocent and unassuming about their sexual differences that I would not be surprised if they did a little playing naked when they were in the tub and when they got out, and this might have been too much for American censors. Not sexual playing, but ordinary playing as most American nudist children might. April 10, 2007

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