Film Review: In the Mountains of Yugoslavia (V gorakh Yugoslavii, 1946)

Orwell might have invented phrase “memory holed”, but his famous novel 1984 only described what had been a practice of various governments and regimes throughout history. In turbulent times of 20th Century erasing any mention of people and events that had became embarrassing and politically damaging was bound to affect cinema. Many films, even some that had been expensive, ambitious or popular, suddenly became equivalent of “uncle nobody talks about”. A textbook example could be found in In the Mountains of Yugoslavia, 1946 Soviet war epic directed by Abram Room, which, at least according to some criteria, represents first feature film in history of Yugoslav cinema and the first film of a genre later known as “Partisan film”.

Plot deals with Yugoslavia during Second World War and begins on June 22nd 1941, few months after Nazi Germany with its Axis allies have occupied country. In Belgrade Central Committe of Communist Party of Yugoslavia led by Josip Broz Tito (played by Ivan Bersenev) decides to start uprising against occupiers and collaborators. Activists are sent all over the country and one of them comes to village in Bosnian mountains where peasant named Slavko Babić (played by Nikolai Mordvinov) decides to join Partisans and leads his villagers, and, despite lack of heavy weapons, manages to defeat Italian column. After this victory he has to hold the line against technically superior German forces, which he does, despite being betrayed by Chetniks led by Blaža (played by Dragutin Todić). Unable to defeat Babić, Germans hope to make him surrender by using Chetniks to take his wife hostage. Babić is, however, determined to continue fighting and Gemany’s best general Erwin Rommel (played by Bojan Stupica) is brought from North African theatre in order to surround and destroy Partisan forces. His plan is thwarted by Tito’s strategic deception, carried by Babić, which would allow Partisans to slip across over River Neretva. After series of hard battles in the mountains, in October 1944 Partisans finally join with Soviet Red Army and Babić takes part in triumphant liberation of Belgrade.

Originally titled Storm Over Balkans, the film, like all Soviet films made at the time, had mainly propaganda purpose, but also served as a way for Soviet Union to prop up new Communist ally in form of Yugoslav leader Tito whose exploits as leader as efficient guerilla force made him popular in Allied nations during the war. The production began in May 1945, shortly after the end of hostilities and took six months, with luxury hotels in Croatian city of Opatija serving as interiors, while Belgrade, Dubrovnik and various mountain locations being used for exteriors. Abram Room, one of the more experienced Soviet directors whose career began in silent era and, among other things, included Bed and Sofa, is assisted by Eisenstein’s famous cinematographer Eduard Tisse, while Yugoslav Army provides extras as well as uniforms, weapons and equipment captured during the war. However, despite those resources, Room’s attempt to reconstruct Yugoslav WW2 campaign isn’t very likely to impress the audience. The main problem is over-theatrical acting, as well as some poor dialogue in script by Georgi Mdivani. Mordvinov, who plays fictional hero, fares much worse than Ivan Bersenev playing Tito, perhaps simply because Yugoslav leader appears less in the film. Bersenev, by some testimonies, took his job very seriously and even spent some time in Tito’s company, trying to study his manners and body movements, thus compensating the lack of physical resemblance.

Even less perceptive viewers won’t have problems to recognise propaganda purpose in this film. Script tries very hard to advocate friendship and co-operation between Yugoslavia and Soviet Union and even adds characters of escaped Red Army POWs who just happen stumble into battle at the mountains and single-handedly turn it in favour of Partisans. On the other hand, Room’s film also served Yugoslav internal propaganda by showing that the country’s anti-fascist struggle was work of all of its ethnicities. Babić’s village is presumably Bosnian Serb, but Babić receives crucial assistance in his struggle from his Muslim neighbour Hamdija (played by Slovenian actor Vladimir Skrbinšek) and his political commissar Ivo (played by Croatian actor Vjekoslav Afrić) is presumably Croat. Balance is shown even when portraying official villains – Serb Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović, again played by Afrić, but this time with his famous beard and spectacles (unlike his first onscreen incarnation in 1943 Hollywood propaganda film Chetniks! The Fighting Guerillas appears in scene talking with German general shortly after the scene in which Ante Pavelić, leader of fascist Ustashas and puppet entity of Indpendent State of Croatia (played by an actor whose name was never mentioned in credit) does the same. On the other hand, plot of the film, to a degree, follows general outline of Yugoslav WW2 campaign, depicts some important battles and mentions real life Partisan commanders and heroes, but the general chronology is messed up. Rommel, played by famous Slovenian theatre director Bojan Stupica, indeed fought Yugoslav Partisans, but only in Slovenia and months after the Battle of Neretva.

When In the Mountains of Yugoslavia appeared in Yugoslav cinemas, despite propaganda, it failed to connect with the audience, which might be explained with language barriers and local characters being played by Russian actors. According to some testimonies, Tito also didn’t like the film. When in 1948 came Tito-Stalin’s split, film was instantly put into archives and conveniently forgotten in both countries. Under new circumstances Tito couldn’t tolerate film in which he is played by Russian actor, while Stalin couldn’t stand film celebrating traitor that his propaganda depicted as fascist. The film became virtually unknown for new generations of filmgoers, but its production did have some impact. Vjekoslav Afrić has gained valuable experience at the set that would serve him well one year later when he directed his own Partisan epic Slavica, officially the very first feature film in history of Yugoslav cinema. In the Mountains of Yugoslavia became available only after both Yugoslavia and Soviet Union disappeared. Today’s viewers might be amused with the way history played with it and, despite see it more as a curiosity than particularly effective or important piece of cinema.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

_

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo

InLeo: https://inleo.io/signup?referral=drax.leo
Stars Arena: https://www.starsarena.com/?ref=draxblog
Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax y
Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7

Posted using CineTV