- Actors: Miki Manojlovic, Lazar Ristovski, Mirjana Jokovic, Slavko Stimac, Ernst Stötzner
- Directors: Emir Kusturica
- Writers: Emir Kusturica, Dusan Kovacevic
- Producers: Jan Schütte, Karl Baumgartner, Maksa Catovic, Milorad Vucelic, Pierre Spengler
- Language English, French, German, Serbo-Croatian
- Classification: 15
- Studio: Artificial Eye
- VHS Release Date: 1 Oct 1999
- Run Time: 167 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00004CSWU
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 11,924 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
Product details |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
This sprawling, exhausting, deeply moving Palme d'Or winner represents the pinnacle of Serbian director Emir Kusturica's considerable abilities, and what is easily one of the best cinematic achievements of the 1990s. It encapsulates 50 turbulent years of Yugoslavian history, from the outbreak of World War II in the 1940s to the destruction of this once-great nation in the 1990s. When we first meet Marko (Miki Manojlovic) and Blacky (Lazar Ristovski), it's hard to take these jokers seriously. All they want to do is party their lives away. But the Nazi shelling of Belgrade changes everything and the resourceful duo comes up with an ingenious plan--one will stay aboveground while the other goes underground. The arrangement represents an ideal opportunity for all concerned: Blacky, his wife, and the rest of their friends and neighbours will be protected from the chaos going on above, while Marko and the lovely Natalija (Mira Sorvino look-alike Mirjana Jokovic) will sell the weapons they're making down below. Everyone will share in the profits.
But Marko commits the ultimate act of betrayal--against Blacky and the rest of his subterranean comrades. This sort of deception can only lead to tragedy, and Kusturica doesn't spare us the details. In fact, it's his eye for detail that makes Underground such a memorable experience--the perfect note his cast strikes between the extremes of physical comedy, passionate romance, and mortal pain, the insidiously infectious brass-heavy score and the strikingly colourful images.
Underground is basically a parable, and doesn't always adhere to the laws of physics. It isn't for the literal-minded, the impatient, or the partisan. It's loud, it's long, and it isn't for the easily offended. It may just also be one of the saddest movies ever made and stands as a fitting tribute to a country that exists only in the hearts and minds of its former residents. --Kathleen C. Fennessy, Amazon.com
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A film which is simply perfect,
By A Customer
This review is from: Underground W/S [VHS] [1996] (VHS Tape)
Everything in this film is simply perfect, the actors, the music, the story, everything is balanced and in the right place.It deals with the tragedy of Jugolavia and the characters have something which is peculiar to the south slavs (the passionate and yet tough Black, the greedy and liar politician and yet a good poet Marko) but while the story unfolds we understand that it has something to do with the history of every country and its men. Underground is like a Greek Tragedy where morality, history and the responsability of men are debated between the main characters and a choir. This film is absoloutley fantastic: don't miss it.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
you'll cry and laugh at the same time,
By A Customer
This review is from: Underground W/S [VHS] [1996] (VHS Tape)
This is an amazing piece of movie! Some might not like the length but it covers 50 years and it covers them very well. The story starts the very morning when World War the 2nd starts in Belgrade and it continues until the war in Bosnia. There is something of a plot behind but the story itself is not about arms-selling, it is about different types of characters, love (for humans as well as money), hatred, mistakes that people make once and regret them for life and the mentality of the Balkans. This could have been a very "heavy" movie if it wasn't for a very good dark humor present throughout the movie. The real value of this movie is the fact that it portraits so much of the way life was lived in the Balkans during and between the two wars (WW2 and today's troubles). It is sort of a parody but at the same time far from it - sometimes it's too literally true to be parody. And this kind of balance between humor and seriousness is what makes this movie special. If you are in the good mood when watching the movie, you might be able to take it lightly and have simple fun and laughter. On the other hand, if you are ready for some heavier stuff and don't send your brain away while watching the movie you'll see so much more than just black humor in it. It does not make sense for me to tell you what are you going to see, that's why do movie was made and the movie tells it so much better than my words ever could. I'll just say that I could hardly contain tears when leaving the cinema. Important note: as someone from the region, I am certainly seeing this movie in a bit different way than somebody whose knowledge about Yugoslavia comes from recent news bulletins. If you are one of the later, it might be hard to pickup everything this movie has to offer. Try seeing the movie multiple times - it will tell you so much more on the repeated seeing. This movie deserves it. Last but not least - soundtrack by Goran Bregovic is piece of art in itself. It deserves five stars alone.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a perfect harmony of emotions and music,
By A Customer
This review is from: Underground W/S [VHS] [1996] (VHS Tape)
Underground was one of the best movies I have ever seen. Besides giving a "from history to present" sequence of events in former Yugoslavia, typical,perfect harmony of Kusturica&Bregovic is clearly seen.Events(and music at the same time) is dramatic but suddenly full of joy. Whatever happens, people keep singing and dancing even after death...Soundtrack is unbelievable as well
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
