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)

A remarkable movie in Kusturica's style

I think this movie won't surprise anyone who has already seen another movie by this great film-maker: it is the same place (Blakans) and style as we are used to. If you liked his other movies, you will surely like this one too.

The story develops around a small bosnian village, where the lives of his inhabitants are changed by the war that shattered Bosnia 12 years ago. So far nothing extraordinary, but what makes his movies different are the atmosphere and life that springs out of every image.

There are two levels at which you can perceive this movie: the first is the rational level: the story, the gags (as in all his movies, humor has a central part) and so on. The second might be called irrational, because it has to do with identification and feelings: you are taken out of your seat and are part of what happens on the screen. Drama is placed very closely to comedy, and sometimes the change is so sudden your laughs freeze on your face. This I guess is the landmark of this movie: dramatic scenes build upon, and increase their strength from, funny scenes. After all, nothing can be taken seriously in the Balkans :-)

I won't say too much about the story, partly because I don't want to spoil your fun, partly because I feel it's unimportant. Suffice to say that the war is presented only by its "reflection" in peoples lives -- this is what matters most in Kusturica's view. There are no battle scenes.

I think the only thing I can reproach is that once or twice I felt the gags were exaggerated, a bit unnatural. But all Kusturica's movies have a dose of fantastic, so this is not a real problem.

I cannot end without pointing out the great performance of the lead actor, Slavko Stimac (Luka). All in all, I would strongly recommend this movie.