Velimir "Bata" Zivojinovic Movies

At the time of this film's release, Lazar Ristovski was the most popular Yugoslavian actor on stage as well as on screen, having had recently played Blacky in Underground and the boxer in Bare Baruta. He was the director, producer, screenwriter, and lead actor of this first film about a tender-hearted bachelor who lives a happy life until he learns that his mother has just died. He takes a steam train and returns to his native village. During his journey, he mixes present time and past memories, meets beautiful creatures as well as horrid ones, and experiences picaresque life and death adventures. The film was screened in the International Critics' Week of the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

Though cloaked in explosive black humor, the serious anti-war message of this bitterly satirical and politically charged Yugoslav film cuts like shrapnel. Set in Bosnia during 1980 and 1992 (like a pendulum, the time frame swings back and forth), and allegedly based upon a true story, the plot focuses upon the longtime friendship of Muslim Halil, and Serbian Milan. While growing up during the '80s, the two often hung out near an abandoned tunnel. Though curious, the boys were too frightened by the mythical boy-eating ogres said to venture within. The story moves to 1992 and begins as the war between the Serbs and the Muslim ignites in horrible violence and the friends find themselves forced into becoming enemies. Meanwhile, a beautiful American journalist is captured by the Serbs. The film opens with a shot of European and American dignitaries smiling broadly as they inaugurate the new Brotherhood and Unity tunnel that links Zagreb and Belgrade. Later in the film, it will become the scene of horror when Serbian soldiers are trapped by Muslims within. With nothing to do but wait for death, the trapped soldiers amuse themselves by staging allegorical circus acts. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The daughter of a wealthy American entrepreneur is sent to a monastery on a remote Yugoslavian mountainside, where it is rumored the monks have developed an exquisite cognac recipe. The money-making American wants his daughter to get the recipe so they can market the spirits. Things complicate when she falls for a very good-looking monk. ~ All Movie Guide

In this melodramatic tale, the well-made plans of a career-obsessed woman are derailed when she sets her sights on a young man who is plainly not very interested in her. In the story, Katherina is an ambitious reporter for German television, and her Yugoslavian family background makes her a natural to cover stories in that country. While preparing a story on children with dual nationalities, she encounters Peter, a German lad who is researching his father's war record to see if he was guilty or innocent of war crimes. She brings Peter to see her family, and later her wooing efforts finally seem to bring her some promise of a relationship. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This excellently told tale of revenge follows along the same lines as Francois Truffaut's 1967 film about an avenging woman, The Bride Wore Black, with the exception that the avenger(s) is a man and his son. The time is 1944, and Bajo (Bata Zivojinovic) is now able to begin the long hunt for the five fascists who tortured and killed his young wife a few years earlier. As he sets out with his son Vukole (Marko Ratic), conditions are still not safe since the Nazis are everywhere. The one-armed Bajo and his son definitely attract notice when they arrive in a new town, but their own danger does not deter Bajo from his vow of killing each of his wife's murderers. As the father-son duo travel through town and countryside, they meet a variety of people -- from a racecar driver to a nightclub singer -- whose humanity stands in sharp contrast to fascist cruelty seen time and again. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Todor the Terrible (Bata Zivojinovic) and his band of fellow klutzes are out to rob their way to riches in this crime comedy by Dejan Sorak set at the end of World War I. Todor and his toadies inhabit a godforsaken region of Bosnia-Croatia, left alone by everyone except the police and the criminals who keep each other company, for the most part. Life takes on new possibilities for Todor when he and his brigands see the eight-minute movie The Great Train Robbery, which they take as nothing less than a do-it-yourself instruction manual. Inspired by this novel idea, they hold up a coach with a very winsome charmer and her wealthy gentleman friend -- and are all the richer for their experience. But misfortune and delusion are in store, as real authorities come into the region, arrest Todor, and schedule him for hanging. Like a cat with nine lives, however, there is a surprise in store for the outlaw as the fates favor him once again with a classic ironic twist. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this melodrama about companionship and life, two friends are released from jail for different reasons -- one has a weekend pass, and the other is terminally ill -- and they go out looking for the past they left behind when they were imprisoned. As the healthy prisoner searches for his wife and son, his view on the meaning of existence is very much affected by his dying friend. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

During the frozen days of January in 1942, a group of Yugoslavian soldiers were surrounded by Germans and had to walk over the mountains and past Sarajevo in sub-zero temperatures. This film spins a fictional tale around their forced march, including scenes of the after-effects -- such as gangrenous toes removed surgically before an entire foot could become infected. Due to the subject matter, this film is a better bet for patriots and surgeons. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this entertaining, clever satire, it is the beginning of World War II and a group of con artists and thieves decide to pose as musicians under the rubric "The Balkan Express." They tour the country and vie with each other for how much they can pilfer, scam, con, or lift from the unsuspecting citizenry. Their talents are put to the test when a German officer falls for the singer in the group, and they decide to use him to obtain important ID papers for everyone. But life is never easy, and when a 10-year-old Jewish girl needs help in hiding from the SS in order to escape being sent to a concentration camp, the group of thieves not only decide to protect the girl, but join forces with the underground resistance fighters to get rid of several German officers at the same time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide