This is a story about three friends from same town - Dubrovnik, a beautiful old town situated on Adriatic coast ( Croatia,then Yugoslavia ) - but from a different nations:Niko (Croat),Toni(Italian)and Miho (Jew).But that fact is not make difference for them-they are best friends.Until... In spring of 1941.,Yugoslavia was occupated by German and Italian armed forces.Dubrovnik became part of so called "Nezavisna Drava Hrvatska" or NDH ("Independent state of Croatia"),founded by members of "Ustasha" movement (Croatian fascists)with permission of occupators,of course.Such a pro-Nazi country wasn't a place for any other people but Croats. Serbs and Jews must been terminated... Three friends take three different sides:Toni became an Italian fascist,Niko became a member of Resistance movement ( or partisans),so as Miho (after surviving a bus massacre).
POSSIBLE SPOILER: A film contents shocking scenes of bus massacre that marks this movie as most disturbing picture ever filmed in Yugoslavia.In that scene,a group of imprisoned Jews (including Miho and his father),Serbs and communists was put into the bus.In the bus,a group of "Ustasha"'s killed one by one prisoner (all civilians)by most horrific methods,such as: a ortodox priest's tongue was cut out, so as one woman's nipple; few people were killed by sledgehammer; Miho's father was decapitated...And that's not just in film-"Ustasha"'s perpetrated a horrible massacres and killed thousands of innocent people during WW2.This film shows "ustasha"'s in only possible way-as a savage beasts.That's reason why this movie and director Lordan Zafranovic were on blacklist in Croatia,during reign of pro-"Ustasha" nationalist's dictature in that country (1990.-2000.). This movie shows one of the darkest chapters in history of Balcan,and this is the one of the best Yugoslavian movies of all time.
POSSIBLE SPOILER: A film contents shocking scenes of bus massacre that marks this movie as most disturbing picture ever filmed in Yugoslavia.In that scene,a group of imprisoned Jews (including Miho and his father),Serbs and communists was put into the bus.In the bus,a group of "Ustasha"'s killed one by one prisoner (all civilians)by most horrific methods,such as: a ortodox priest's tongue was cut out, so as one woman's nipple; few people were killed by sledgehammer; Miho's father was decapitated...And that's not just in film-"Ustasha"'s perpetrated a horrible massacres and killed thousands of innocent people during WW2.This film shows "ustasha"'s in only possible way-as a savage beasts.That's reason why this movie and director Lordan Zafranovic were on blacklist in Croatia,during reign of pro-"Ustasha" nationalist's dictature in that country (1990.-2000.). This movie shows one of the darkest chapters in history of Balcan,and this is the one of the best Yugoslavian movies of all time.