CABARET BALKAN

1999

In a series of dramatic, often shocking interrelated vignettes, "Cabaret Balkan" tells the story, in metaphorical terms, of the former Yugoslavia's descent into hell. The director, GoranPaskaljevic, uses a "La Ronde"-like technique(where a character in one scene connects with a character in another scene, who in turn connects with a character in another scene, and so forth,) to tell the "story." As someone who travelled through the former Yugoslavia, and loved everything about it, it's hard to see it portrayed as "Dante's Inferno." Some of the scenes have an almost unbearable tension about them...like waiting for a powder keg to blow up. (In fact, "Powder Keg" was the original title of the film.) Other scenes have an almost Fellini-like bizarre quality to them. Strangely enough, there's no politics in the film!

4 Stars

NJB

Originally and appropriately titled, "The Powder Keg" in Europe, this film is made up of a series of vignettes of different people during one night in Yugoslavia. Through each short vignette, we are able to see the tension, anger and turmoil that exists there now- from the people complaining about the lack of an effective government to the Bosnian refugees we see living in dirty garages and alleyways. Quite possibly the most disturbing and moving of all the vignettes is the taxi driver confronting the policeman that he beat nearly to death leaving him crippled after that policeman had brutally attacked him months earlier. The New York Times described this movie as "the Yugoslavian Pulp Fiction" and I would have to agree. Brilliantly acted and directed, this is a very moving film.

4 Stars

CDF