Подземелье (Podzemelje)

1995 film directed by Emir Kusturica

Underground , is a 1995 comedy drama film directed by Emir Kusturica, with a screenplay co written with Dušan Kovačević. It is also known by the subtitle Once Upon a Time There Was One Country , the title of the five hour miniseries (the long cut) shown on Serbian RTS television. The film uses the epic story of two friends to portray a Yugoslav history from the beginning of World War II until the beginning of the Yugoslav Wars. It is an international co production with companies from Yugoslavia (Serbia), France, Germany, Czech Republic and Hungary. The theatrical version is 163 minutes. Kusturica stated in interviews that his original version ran for over five hours, and that co producers forced edits. Underground received critical acclaim, and won the Palme d'Or at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. It was Kusturica's second win following When Father Was Away on Business (1985). It went on to win other honours.

In the morning of 6 April 1941 in Belgrade, the capital of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, two bon vivants, Petar Popara, nicknamed Crni (Blacky) and Marko Dren, head home. They pass through Kalemegdan and shout salutes to Marko's brother Ivan, an animal keeper in the Belgrade Zoo. Marko lets Blacky's pregnant wife Vera know that they enrolled Blacky in the Communist Party (KPJ).

The hungover Blacky eats breakfast while Vera complains about his supposed affair with a theatre actress. After the roar of the planes is heard, German bombs begin falling on Belgrade. After the air raid is over, Blacky goes out against Vera's wishes and inspects the devastated city. Encountering ruins and escaped animals from the zoo, he also runs into disconsolate Ivan carrying Soni, a baby chimp. The Royal Yugoslav Army's resistance is broken, and German troops occupy and dismember the Kingdom. Blacky starts operating clandestinely as a communist activist along with Marko and others. Blacky occasionally visits his mistress Natalija Zovkov who has been assigned to a special actors' labour brigade that is helping the city's rebuilding effort under German occupational control. A celebrated actress in the National Theatre, Natalija has caught the eye of Franz, a high ranking German officer. Marko has set up a weapons stash in the cellar of his grandfather's house. Following their interception of a trainload of weapons, Marko and Blacky are identified as dangerous bandits in German radio bulletins. While Blacky hides in the woods as Germans are intensifying door to door raids, Marko takes Vera, Ivan and others into the cellar to hide. Vera is due and gives birth to a baby boy, who she names Jovan before dying. In 1944, Blacky is in town to celebrate Jovan's birthday at a communist hangout. The two best friends head for the theatre and see Natalija performing on stage in front of Franz and other German officers. Blacky shoots Franz in the chest and, along with Natalija and Marko, reaches the river boat anchored outside Belgrade. There, they all get ready for a forced wedding despite Natalija's protestations. The party is interrupted by German soldiers surrounding the boat. Franz yells, demanding Blacky and Marko release Natalija, who runs to him. Blacky is captured by Germans and tortured in a hospital with electric shocks while Franz and Natalija visit her brother Bata there. Meanwhile, Marko finds a way to enter the building through an underground sewer passage. Sneaking up on Franz, Marko strangles him to death with a cord in front of Natalija who switches sides once again. Marko then proceeds to free Blacky. They leave with fatigued Blacky hidden in a suitcase, but he is injured by a grenade. Days later on Easter 1944, Marko and Natalija, now a couple, watch a comatose Blacky. In late October, the Red Army accompanied by Yugoslav Partisans enters Belgrade. Marko gives speeches from the National Theater balcony during the Trieste crisis, socializes with Josip Broz Tito, Ranković and Edvard Kardelj, and stands next to Tito during military parades through downtown Belgrade.

In 1961, Marko is one of Tito's closest associates and advisors. The physically recovered Blacky and company are still in the cellar under the impression that the War is still going on above. Marko and Natalija attend a ceremony to open a cultural center and unveil a statue of Petar Popara Blacky, who everyone thinks died, becoming a People's Hero. With the help of his grandfather who is in on the con, Marko oversees the weapons manufacturing and even controls time by removing hours to a day so the people in the cellar think that only 15 years passed since the beginning of World War II instead of 20. The filming of a state sponsored motion picture based on Marko's memoirs titled Proleće stiže na belom konju (Spring Comes On A White Horse) begins above ground. Soon, Blacky's 20 year old son Jovan will marry Jelena, a girl he grew up with in the cellar. Soni wanders into a tank and fires it, blowing a hole in the wall. Soni wanders off, and Ivan follows. Blacky, with his son Jovan, emerges from underground for the first time in decades. They encounter the movie set of and believing the war is still on, kill two extras and the actor playing Franz. In the manhunt, Jovan drowns but Blacky escapes.

In 1992 at the height of the Yugoslav Wars, Ivan re emerges with Soni, whom he was recently reunited with. He stumbles upon Marko, who attempts to broker an arms deal in the middle of a conflict zone. The deal falls through and Ivan catches up with Marko and beats him to unconsciousness, then commits suicide. Natalija arrives and rushes to Marko's side. They are captured by militants and they are ordered to be executed as arms dealers by militants' commander, Blacky. Blacky moves his people out to the cellar that he lived years ago, taking Soni with him. He sees an image of Jovan in a well, and falls in while reaching for him. In a dreamlike sequence, Blacky, Marko, and others are reunited at an outside dinner party, celebrating Jovan's wedding. Ivan gives a few parting words, ending with "Once upon a time, there was a country."

The shooting of the film began in fall 1993 and lasted off and on until early spring 1995. The state owned Radio Television of Serbia had a small role in financing the film, and the film used rented Yugoslav Army (VJ) equipment as props.

The film's soundtrack includes music by Goran Bregović and the participation of Cesária Évora.