Rating: 
Summary: Pretentious, goofy art-house C**P
Review: Frankly, I'm astonished by how many people worship this puffed up comic book of a movie.
The judges at Cannes must have been smoking crack.
Rating: 
Summary: A bitter nightmare !
Review: Kusturica won The cannes Festival in 1995 defeating a superior film as Ulysses gaze . Nevertheless it would be unfair not recognize its deep values .
Kusturica shows the complex web of outrageous characters who live in the middle of the bloody war a surrealist episode which itself constitutes a crime even major against the hopes and the lives of a lot of people .
Since the times are hard , a mercenaire and miserable man sees in the personal tragedy of hopeless people your way of living .
And in this sense he builds a solid fortress in the underground of his own house , privating of any possible escape . So this refugee will become a real prison .
The war is over but he maintains in them the belief the war continues . As they live isolated from the outside world , they assume that statement and make our lives in that sordid place. Watch this merciless and awful film . The arresting script of Kusturica is finely variegated with intelligent and smart vignettes who reminds us to Fellini .
A great film that together with Time of gypsies are the alpha and omega of this talented film maker .
Rating:
Summary: But how to see it on DVD?
Review: I love this film. I won't mince my words. It's not the greatest film ever made, and I won't conjecture what is, but it's amongst the greatest I've seen (and yes, I have seen a fair few in my time). Those that feel it is a poor film (you'll see that very nearly everyone feels strongly one way or another) just don't get a) what the film did at home as a social commentary or b) that yes, people in that part of the world do party loudly and do practice the art of suspension of disbelief in their culture and upbringing - some people call it appreciation of art and artistry, but never mind all that. We Slavs are a passionate people, for better or worse.This "review" is really to point out that the widescreen DVD of Underground is available from Australia. I have looked high and low for years for this. There is an Italian DVD release, a Belgian DVD release, but I've only just found (and ordered) the Australian DVD release (Croatian language, English subtitle). Of course, you'll need an appropriate DVD player, but those are easy to come by. One doesn't have to like the film but please do bother getting your reasons right.
Rating: 
Summary: A Black Comic Epic, A laugh in the farce of history
Review: I think some sections of this film are very funny and some sections comment very poignantly on events of the last 50 years. Its a parable in some parts, an all out comedy in other parts and a satire in still other parts. I think maybe there is enough in this film to make three films. Its not the most tightly structured film, in fact its a sprawl. Viewing it one begins to believe no idea seemed too ridiculous so they eliminated nothing. As result you get a kind of everything and the kitchen sink entertainment. Its easy to get lost in this film or to lose your place. You almost have to analyze different scenes or sequences separately because anything you say about it may hold true for this part and not for that part. Its one of those films I am glad to have watched but was glad when it was over. Covering so much history the film is a kind of all night dance marathon and at times it seems the only point to it is to remain standing or if your the viewer to stay awake. By making its lead characters a kind of slapstick act, a black comedy team to be more precise, the film is driven by a gusto and verve which laughs in the face of history. In fact these two characters seem larger than anything history can throw at them. That is until the WW11 Nazi occupation phase of the story ends. Once communism takes hold the characters no longer perform together and the film loses its appeal and its edge. That edge is replaced by a darker kind of movie, a darker kind of black comedy. Under communism a different tactic must be deployed --the comedy team splits up--one half of the team performs a political charade above ground, the other remains tied to his Yugoslav roots below ground. This divisive schizophrenia is a clever tactic but the division imposed on the team zaps the joy out of the film. The communist phase just isn't fun, its like the comedy slowly oozes out of the film.
Fascism provided a common enemy for Yugoslavia to unite against while Communism turned citizens againt each other. The message is clear enough but the films zany antic strategies seem to get misplaced especially during this sequence which could be funny but isn't. The film within a film sequence which takes much too long to make a fairly simple point is one example where the film could have been cut. I think the film loses momentum and focus more than once as ideas are developed which feel more like tangents which veer away from the main story. By the final sections of the film the viewer will have fallen asleep at least once and when he/she awakens it will seem like he/she has awoken to another film altogether--which is perhaps the film makers desired effect. The final scenes deal with some recent history that has yet to be digested fully, however, and I'm not certain the film even knows exactly whats its saying in those final scenes. The film works best if you just surrender to its methods or its madness(which are impressionistic and surreal not literal) but some people like myself will find themselves wishing for more method and less madness. In the final scenes the party goes on, the band plays on, the dancers dance, but there is no joy nor comedy in those scenes because people have taken sides against each other and there is no longer cause to celebrate nor any country to celebrate in. Its poignant and moving but its been so long since the story began one mourns but is uncertain just what one is mourning for. What was Yugoslavia? Maybe it was only a fiction after all, a stage where the farce of history was acted on. And now the play is over. Maybe every country, however brief, is only a fiction that once undone ends in madness for the thinking and a mindless kind of joy for those who accept that life is irrational. Maybe comedy is the only coping tactic left to deal with such a series of tragedies.
Rating:
Summary: A modern classic
Review: This film is truly a masterpiece. Kustarica deserved his "Palm D'Or" at Cannes for this one. It is a remarkable statement about the insanity of the Balkan wars, and war in general. Further, it is funny, touching, and extremely memorable. I don't want to give too much away (some reviews really do too much of that), but, this is truly an 'essential film of the 1990s'. Further, Goran Bregovic's soundtrack is spectacular. There are so many memorable songs, such as "Mesecina" and "Kalashnikov" that will be running through your head years after you've seen the movie.
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