Kusturica can really move me, he's one of very few filmmakers I trust and allow into my life to do that. It is in a very delicate way he can affect, a way that I also know and appreciate deeply from some of the great Zen and Sufi poets. He has that quality, let's call it a duende, of having lived with enough ardor and zest of soul to be able to speak about a sadness that is joy. About pain without ego. Struggle as release.And on top of that he's so adept with images it hurts. He knows how to frame a small puddle of water so that it reflects entire skies above with many moons, and make the moon seem wet and the waters earthy. So even though this is a more than fine film and better than most filmmakers accomplished on their second turn behind a camera, I am saddened that it doesn't move me more. This is a rare complaint from me. And this is because I know this man has felt harder than he shows here, and has sung what it means to feel with images that cut deeper. This also cuts, but cuts solemnly, in ordinary way, with mostly serious restraint, with a historic thrust for a respectable account of Yugoslav suffering as the suffering between brothers in law.It's just not a very enviable or interesting position to want to be the historic chronicler like he's doing here, it just means you have to organize a lot of pedantic detail. Now I am from around here and can trace roots from every corner of the Balkans to be able to tell that what Kusturica usually writes about is a romance and not an account. This is a frequent complaint of course, acknowledged, moreso from around here where pundits feel somehow threatened or otherwise insulted by this wistful, clowny image broadcast abroad for tourist consumption. So yes, a romance that is about a love and life that is a little more dangerous than from the safe distance of reason, a little more sublime and noble than was today or yesterday, but that is nevertheless imbued with the same reckless spirit that gave rise to the chronicle that Kusturica is only a very recent chapter to.Meaning this spirit that he has used to make films pre-existed him and carries its own truths from long ago. The family gatherings around food, the common rituals, the stories about honorable scoundrels that may be someone's father or uncle. These songs above all, our main tradition being musical and fiddled continuously on the stage for a few hundred years.So when he puts it all together, it is not a question of ability that makes a difference and stirs the soul - he was always able, and here just as well - but one of spontaneous creation. There is only a little of that here for my taste, more history. It is touching drama but lacks some of the reflections I prize so much.

The background may be confusing to viewers unfamiliar with post-WWII Balkan history, but this was never (thankfully) meant to be a big-screen social studies lesson. The film is a sentimental (but never mawkish) drama of family life behind the Iron Curtain, as seen through the often glazed eyes of an eight-year old Yugoslav boy (prone to episodes of somnambulism) whose father is arrested for making a casual criticism of an editorial cartoon. Rather than taking potshots at easy political targets, director Emir Kusterica focuses instead on smaller, more intimate conflicts, recounting moments of family affection and bitterness with an understated humor transcending national and cultural borders.

There have been several movies about the adult world as seen by children. "Daniel" and "Matinee" are good examples from the United States. A good one from the former Yugoslavia is Emir Kusturica's "Otac na sluzbenom putu" ("When Father Was Away on Business" in English).When Sarajevo man Mesa is arrested in 1950 for criticizing a cartoon, his wife Sena has to tell son Malik that the dad is on a business trip. As the movie progresses, Malik comes to understand the political status quo in this country straddling east and west.* Moreover, it becomes clear that Mesa is not the world's most responsible person, preferring to go screw attractive women to raising his son.One thing is that I like seeing films about cultures that we rarely see. Beyond that, this look at political tensions - and how the boy has to learn about sex on his own - fascinates me. I definitely recommend the movie.PS: Emir Kusturica also directed "Arizona Dream" (starring Johnny Depp, Jerry Lewis and Faye Dunaway) in the United States) and "Black Cat, White Cat" back in his native country.*Tito's disagreements with Stalin led to Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Eastern Bloc, so it aligned itself with the west but maintained an Eastern Bloc-style government.

I was so happy to find this film, as movies about life behind the Iron Curtain are very few and far between here in the US. It was a very interesting slice of life in the former Yugoslavia and featured the story of a man who was sent away for "anti-Communist" remarks. The poor sap, it seems, made a very innocent and harmless comment and because of this he was sent away from his loving family for a couple years for re-education and forced labor. All of this was very interesting. The problem for me was that although you felt for his family, you had a hard time caring for the man because beneath it all he was a major jerk who spent much of the movie being repeatedly unfaithful to his very loving wife. This, unfortunately, served to really blunt the impact of the film. While it COULD be said this humanized the story and made it more complex, I really felt disappointed by this plot choice.