Zivot je cudo (2004)

Director:

Emir Kusturica

Writers:

Ranko Bozic (scenario and dialogue) &
Emir Kusturica (scenario and dialogue)

Release Date:

14 May 2004 (France)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Music | Drama | War

Plot:

What could be better for the village than a scenic railway to bring in the tourists? What could be worse for tourism than war? Luka builds the railway and shuts his eyes to war. Then Luka's wife runs off with a musician and his son is called up to the army. Luka's life is a war zone. Then he meets Sabaha..

Plot Keywords:

Civil War | Romeo And Juliet | Train | Balkan | Slapstick

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Slavko Stimac	...	Luka
Natasa Solak	...	Sabaha
Vesna Trivalic	...	Jadranka
Vuk Kostic	...	Milos
Aleksandar Bercek	...	Veljo
Stribor Kusturica	...	Captain Aleksic
Nikola Kojo	...	Filipovic
Mirjana Karanovic	...	Nada
Branislav Lalevic	...	President
Davor Janjic	...	Tomo
Adnan Omerovic	...	Eso
Obrad Djurovic	...	Vujan
Dr. Nele Karajlic	...	Cymbal Player (as Dr. Nelle Karajlic)
Dana Todorovic	...	SF TV Reporter (as Danica Todorovic)
Vanessa Glodjo	...	Nurse 1 (as Vanesa Glodjo)

Also Known As:

Life Is a Miracle (International: English title) (USA) (literal English title)
Hungry Heart (International: English title)
Kad je zivot bio cudo (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Serbo-Croatian title) (working title)
La vie est un miracle! (France)
La vita è un miracolo (Italy)

Runtime:

France:155 min | Germany:154 min | Argentina:155 min

Country:

Serbia and Montenegro | France | Italy

Language:

Serbian | English | German | Hungarian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) | Germany:12 | Hungary:16 | Sweden:11 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:16 | Ireland:15A | Netherlands:12 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Cacak, Serbia

Company:

Les Films Alain Sarde

Trivia:

When the tunnel is blasted, the bazooka operator sings a medley of songs by The Doors, specially "Touch Me" and "The End".

Goofs:

Continuity: The movie was shot along a narrow gauge railway but Mayor Radovan arrives to the village on a normal gauge railcar. (00:07:38-00:09:33)

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Mi nismo andjeli 2 (2005)

A smooth ride for your money.

Talented forward Milos Djukic dreams of playing for Partizan Belgrado. But his dream shatters when the war between the Serbians and Bosnians escalates. He gets drafted by the Serbian army and must report for duty. Disaster strikes when he gets captures. The only way to free him is to trade him for a Bosnian nurse who's held captive at his fathers house.

The least i can say about this movie is that is surprised me. Surprised by its drama, comedy, romance, absurdity.. Yes, this movie has it all. It combines all genres in a terrific mixture which interested me from the beginning until the end. Which is not an easy thing to do considering that this movie lasts two and a half hours. It gets along quite smoothly without real twists in the plot or having to accelerate 'cause there isn't a real climax this movie strives to (accept the obvious one, but thats not what this movie is really about).

Don't expect to get blown away by this picture, it wont knock your socks off. It'll give you a nice, subtle, smooth ride for your money.

8/10