Karaula (2006)

Director:

Rajko Grlic

Writers:

Rajko Grlic (screenplay)
Ante Tomic (novel)

Release Date:

7 March 2008 (Poland)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Yugoslavia | Mountain | Husband Wife Relationship | Army | Karaula

Awards:

7 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Toni Gojanovic	...	Sinisa
Sergej Trifunovic	...	Ljuba Paunovic
Emir Hadzihafizbegovic	...	Porucnik Safet Pasic
Verica Nedeska	...	Mirjana
Bogdan Diklic	...	Pukovnik Rade Orhideja
Miodrag Fisekovic	...	Gvozdenovic
Franjo Dijak	...	Budiscak
Petre Arsovski	...	Ilievski
Tadej Troha	...	Lanisnik
Zoran Ljutkov	...	Milco
Igor Bencina	...	Vladika
Selim Sendzul	...	Mica
Almedin Leleta	...	Hasan
Hrvoje Keckes	...	Miljenko
Halid Beslic	...	Pevac narodne muzike

Also Known As:

Karaula (Bosnia and Herzegovina: Croatian title) (Croatia) (Republic of Macedonia)
Karavla (Slovenia)
The Border Post (International: English title)

Runtime:

94 min | Turkey:87 min (TV version)

Country:

UK | Serbia and Montenegro | Croatia | Slovenia | Republic of Macedonia | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Hungary | Austria

Language:

Slovenian | Macedonian | Serbian | Croatian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (Dolby 5.1)

Filming Locations:

Bitola, Macedonia

Company:

Refresh Production

Pathetic, empty and way to late...

This movie is complete waste of time. Yup. Why? Oh, boy, where should I start? Bad acting? Lousy screenplay? Fact that movie is to late?

Emir Hadziwhateverhisnameisić hated this role, he admitted it in some news interview, and that can be easily seen trough this entire move. I even felt sorry for him seeing how much he suffers acting in this movie. I doubt he faked his drinking... He is talented actor, but not even his talent couldn't make him even to try to act. I don't blame him. Sergej Trifunović is giving his best. Which means that he suck. Yup, Emir at least has talent, this poor sob doesn't... Only possible explanation why would anyone even consider him for (any) role is fact that he look like what other ex-YU nations see as a stereotypical Serb. Funny enough, Serbs see him as stereotypical Albanian... Toni Gojanović... is chosen for this role simply because he's Croat... Croatia have much better actors than him (is he an actor at all?), but he does seems to be trying, and since he's a "newb", we can look trough his fingers...

Now, take a better look... Bosniak, Serb and Croat... and voilà, you have a generic ex-YU wannabe comedy... and that's it. It tries to look at war and reasons for war trough comedy but it just fail... there is no deep background story, there is no secret agendas, there is no comedy there is no nothing.. Movie was heavily advertised here as "Movie that put together Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks in hilarious comedy" and people wanted to see trough Karaula their youths and lives in pre-1991. Yugoslavia, but most of them abandoned theater before end because they have found foreign country and foreign army with foreign people and foreign stories. Something they didn't wanted or cared to see. Macedonia is foreign to Serbs, YPA is foreign to Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats are foreign to Serbs. Famous scene at the end of movie where actors get out on stage and public isn't tapping is clear sign what public thinks about this movie.

I thought that pathetic ex-YU ethnic humor has died in 1991. And it did. This is just zombiefied version if it, and it's not funny. It's sad. Strange thing I find is the fact that only in Serbia this movie was advertised like this is 1975, like we all live in perfect "brotherhood and unity" and that war never happened. Film had financial success in all countries of former YU, except in Serbia, despite big advertising campaign. Movie entered trough big doors, but it exited through back door, quietly and shamefully. This movie is wanting to look back at last moments of Yugoslavia, it is trying to say to us that it's not our fault, that we all were seduced by "drunken and selfish" leaders, blah, blah, blah... It could make some point if it was released during 1995; 1996; or 1997; considering that war and Yugoslavia were still "fresh" and all... but in 2006, this movie just doesn't make sense...

Legacy of this movie is big. Yup, before this movie, many various EX-YU actors and directors were talking about making some new movies as homage to old partisan films... luckily, this movie showed that it would be just waste of money...

I want my 94 minutes back.