Underground: When the society is eclipsed by an ideology

How does war affect a country? What could be the impact of the war on your friendship and personal life? Is it necessary to have a personal involvement to be affected by the war? Many of such unanswered questions have been satirically addressed by Emir Kusturica in his 1995 magnum-opus Underground. One of the harshest satires on the war conditions, ‘Underground’ is a Serbian film which bears the subtitle “Once upon a time there was a country.” The film is a portrayal of Yugoslav history from the beginning of World War II until the beginning of Yugoslav Wars. It actually was a five hour mini-series shown on Serbian RTS Television. The theatrical version is 163 minutes long. The film wins the Palme d'Or at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.

The film is divided into three parts and tells a story of two friends, Marko Dren and Petar “Blacky” Popara. Marko Dren is a Communist Party worker and swiftly moving upwards on Party ladder. The film begins as both friends were celebrating Blacky’s enrollment to the Party. The very next morning when Blacky was taking breakfast there is an attack from Nazis on the city of Belgrade. After the air raid, Blacky, in spite of his pregnant wife’s opposition, goes out to have an inspection of devastated city. The zoo is ruined and some of the surviving animals are out on the roads. This symbolically represents the wreckage of Yugoslavian Kingdom and the animal spirits of the surviving citizens which are later seen in the civil war. Blacky meets Marko’s brother Ivan carrying the baby chimpanzee Soni. Royal Yugoslav Army could not resist for long and soon the Kingdom is occupied by Nazis. Blacky starts underground fight against Nazi occupation along with Marko and others. He occasionally meets his mistress Natalija Zovkov who is a National Theatre actress. She is assigned to the national actors’ brigade to rebuild the city. But she soon catches an eye of a high-ranking German officer named Franz.

Marko and Blacky are soon declared as wanted “bandits”. Marko hides many people in the basement of his grandfather’s house along with Blacky’s pregnant wife, Vera and his brother Ivan. Vera dies in labor, delivering a son who is named Jovan. In 1944, Blacky comes to town to celebrate his son’s birthday at a local communist hangout. The two friends then heads to the theatre where they see Natalija performing in front of Franz. Angry Blacky shoots Franz but he survives. Blacky and Marko escapes to the river boat along with Natalija, where they try to force Natalija to get married with Blacky. But, they were soon surrounded by Nazi soldiers. Natalija goes to Franz, and Blacky is captured and tortured in city hospital. Marko comes there to rescue him. Blacky kills Franz, and takes Natalija with him. But, while escaping Blacky is injured through grenade. Blacky is also put underground, which has now been turned into a workshop in which they make weapons, which Marko sells.

In the very next scene, documentary footage is added in which Marko and Natalija are skillfully incorporated. Footage also includes Tito and other communist leaders. This time footage is used to show that the role of Marko is becoming more and more important in the politics and Communist party. The use of documentary tells about the historic facts of the era and the incorporation of fictional characters into it suggests that there is no difference between the story and the his(s)tory.

The second part starts in the cold war of 1961. Marko and Natalija are couple now and Marko is shown giving a speech and then uncovering the statue of Petar ‘Blacky’ Popara implying that he has died valiantly in the freedom movement. Marko is one of Tito’s advisors and closest associates. In the underground cellar, Blacky is recovered, but everyone there thinks that the world war is still on and they are continuously making weapons for Marko from which he is getting profit. To keep the illusion of war for the cellar people, Marko plays attacks on radio.

Based on Marko’s memoire a state-sponsored movie is being made on the life of Blacky. In this movie, Miki Manojlović (the actor who plays Marko) is playing the role of Marko and Blacky’s character is played by Lazar Ristovski (the actor who plays Blacky). Thus it minimizes the difference between the fact and fiction by employing the tool of movie within movie.

In the cellar, Blacky’s son Jovan is young and getting married to young lady in the cellar. Marko and Natalija are also invited in the marriage celebration. The bride descends like an angel, her hair is flying. These effects are also created and shown to the public. Soni, the monkey hides into the tank and fires a round which opens the cellar to the outer world. And everyone escapes from the cellar. Ivan goes on the search of Soni and finds underground roads leading to various countries.

In third part which is also entitled ‘war’ and is about Yugoslavian civil war, Marko has become handicapped. It implies that without the cellar people, he is handicapped. This part begins with the documentary footage of Tito’s burial and people crying over it. It begins in 1992. Ivan is shown in a mental asylum; he comes out of it and accidentally meets Soni. At this time, he witnesses Marko doing a deal of weapons in the middle of the conflict zone. Ivan fights with Marko claiming that “a war is not a war until brother fights with his brother.” Later, Ivan commits suicide. Marko and Natalija are captured by militants and ordered their execution. Blacky moves the people out of the cellar. In the well, he sees Jovan, who is drawn in the river earlier, and falls in it.

The concluding scene is symbolic. All the characters come back to life for the celebration of Jovan’s marriage. Ivan directly talks to the audience recounting the stories they will tell to their children, which will begin, “once upon a time there was a country…” And in the process of celebration, the small piece of land, they are on, breaks off and drifts down the Danube river. Thus, it exhibits the disappearance of a piece of land with its stories, histories and celebrations.

The film uses the title “Underground” in multiple ways with nuances of significances. Blacky and the people are living underground constantly fearing the atrocities of war, even in the time when there was actually no war. Blacky is buried alive, metaphorically as he was declared dead when he was very much alive. There are underground roads to reach various countries but the road to Yugoslavia is missing. The people living in the cellar, i.e. underground, don’t have the sense of time and current society and the world. This is perhaps the most important statement of the movie. The people living underground means the people who are gullible and ready to accept the propaganda of their rulers are doomed to live the secondary lives and very likely to become puppets of the rulers. And their ignorance will fuel and advance the war and violence. The propagandist will benefit from them. As the residents of cellar were used and framed by Marko.

The film’s parts move from war to war, though actual war is not screened. The effects and beneficiaries of war are clearly marked in every part. It becomes quite easy to manufacture the history and develop the heroes once the people are in the trance of war and hatred for others. Marko succeeds to power. His memoirs are considered the real history. And he gets the best out of wars by selling weapons. All three types of war: World War, Cold War and Civil War, were in his favor. Brave but stupid heroes like Blacky were used to gain power, prestige and money. The failed actress Natalija who is ready to take any side for her benefit, she is a lover of Nazi officer Frank, fools the war-hero Blacky and lives a life of luxury and power being the wife of Marko. Marko is a friend who is ready to sell everything for his advantage, including once death. He is a great actor who can fake tears whenever required.

The most important part of the movie is the constant reminder that this is a movie. Use of modified documentaries makes a statement that historic documents can be modified as per the need. The double play of the characters, the real as well as fictional, reminds that there is something beyond the (hi)stories that we were told. Ivan’s direct address to the audience in the end makes this historical anti-war film primarily a fiction. Emir Kusturica, the director himself comes in a cameo, doing the deal of weapons with Marko and grabs the profit from the war. This scene symbolically puts a question mark on the war-films, saying that directors earn profit through wars by recreating them in film either in the form of resistance or propaganda.

Let’s just hope that the society comes out of the political underground before it causes the civil war and removes one more piece of land of stories, histories and celebrations from the map.

Published in: The Hills Times – Heritage August 10, 2017. Page No. 07