Zivot je cudo (2004)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

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 | Slapstick | Balkan | Train

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Slavko Stimac	...	Luka Djuric
Natasa Solak	...	Sabaha
Vesna Trivalic	...	Jadranka Djuric - Luka's wife
Vuk Kostic	...	Milos Djuric
Aleksandar Bercek	...	Veljo
Stribor Kusturica	...	Kapetan Aleksic
Mirjana Karanovic	...	Nada
Branislav Lalevic	...	Radovan, predsednik
Nikola Kojo	...	Filipovic
Davor Janjic	...	Tomo Krtola
Adnan Omerovic	...	Esad
Obrad Djurovic	...	Vujan
Dr. Nele Karajlic	...	Cimbalista (as Dr. Nelle Karajlic)
Dana Todorovic	...	SFTV reporter (as Danica Todorovic)
Vanessa Glodjo	...	Bolnicarka

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)

Do we risk to get tired of Kusturica's carnaval?

Kusturica repeats himself, it's the first thing that comes to mind when leaving the cinema. Still, this is not necessarily a negative sign, for an author who has been able to create "Underground" or "Black cat, white cat". This movie is an authentic hymn of joy to life, love and humanity (sure, also that grotesque humanity that in the Balkan countries may look wild sometimes), thus we can be happy that Kusturica has achieved once again this objective. In addition, Kusturica stress here in an unusual way for him the real power of sentiment between two persons which can overcome war and ethnic division.

However, the instruments that Kusturica uses are this time too familiar for us and we cannot avoid the impression of the repetition of the same gags and expressions that we have seen in his previous films. This "déjà vu" becomes impressed in our minds since the beginning, just after the magnificent aperture of the movie. A "déjà vu" which allows us to anticipate the gestures of the each character. In addition, the carnaval does not allow to catch the important political assumption of this movie, which is that that war was a war instigated by all illegal dealers on both sides to preserve and increase their traffics and that first of all the fights happened within each camp, to eliminate those who were promoting a fair and decent life (see the murder of the Serbian mayor by his Serbian deputy). This political assumption is one of the strongest elements of the movie, but is Kusturica's carnaval reinforcing or diluting this powerful message?

I believe that Kusturica is now come to a real crossroad: either he continues to follow his colorful and sometimes grotesque representation of the Balkan soul and in this way simply repeating himself or is he addressing new territories with different instruments. This movie represents some old and some new for him: this is its strength and its weakness. I hope to see Kusturica taking the challenge and using his immense creativity to enter into a new dimension.