|
Underground
|
|
|
|
With some directors, just as with people, you're prepared
to put up with a few faults for the magnificent generosity of
their talent. Yugoslavian-born Emir Kusturica is one of them.
His latest film, Underground, is a masterpiece, albeit
a hectic one, for while a cut of 25 minutes has reduced the film
to under three hours, the accelerated pace gives hardly pause
for breath, let alone thought. A deserving winner of last year's
Palme d'Or at Cannes, Underground originated 20 years ago
as a play about a man who incarcerates his rival in love in a
cellar, but grew out of all proportion when Kusturica took the
project on board, developing into a huge tragi-comic allegory
of recent Balkan history. The story begins in 1941 when a group
of partisan families take refuge in a cellar and a black market
profiteer (Miki Manojlovic) turns the community into a flourishing
arms factory. Finding this advantageous for both his heart and
his pocket, he convinces them that war continues for another half
century after it has ended. Kusturica's visionary genius,
so eloquent in Time of the Gypsies and Arizona Dream, is equally
inspiring in Underground, the director's passionate and overwhelming
response to the tragedies his country has suffered.
Reviewed by Monika Maurer
See what other kamera.co.uk readers thought about this film
|
|
|
