User Reviews

First off I think it's necessary to explain as much as I can the historical background in Macedonia at that time so that non-Macedonians can understand the film more easily. Macedonia was occupied by the Ottoman Empire(modern Turkey) from late 14th century until 1912. Territorially Macedonia was much bigger than it is now. All of that changed during the Balkan wars (1912- 1913). Macedonia's neighboring countries gained independence in 19th century (mostly with help from Russia and UK). They assured Macedonia to help in getting rid of its occupier. They kept their promise during the first Balkan war during which Turkey was defeated. But their true plans surfaced soon enough which was to divide then-free Macedonia. And that's what happened , Greece got 50 % off the territory, Serbia and Bulgaria 20 % and Albania 5 %.The part that Serbia took was first part of the SFRY. After the breakup of the federation Macedonia became an independent country in 1991. So modern Macedonia is actually those 25 % off its original territory. That's why in the beginning of this movie there are Serbian flags, generals etc, even their anthem is sang when the football team came back from their first victory on the train station ( Macedonians refused to do it obviously). During WWII Bulgaria participated in the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece by letting German troops attack from its territory. As a reward, the Axis powers allowed Bulgaria to occupy parts of both countries (this included Macedonia). In regard to the movie I thought it was solid. Sasko Kocev and Katarina Ivanovska had mediocre performances, whereas Richard Sammel, Emil Ruben and Mitko Apostolovski were top- notch. The cinematography is also excellent.

I found the depiction of the history of Macedonian Jews grim and heartbreaking. However there were a lot of subplots that the director tried to incorporate into one story, and I thought that didn't leave out enough space nor time for each to fully develop. The ending was quite strong though, eventually the good things in life will prevail.

My vote is 7.9/10

The best film from Macedonia by far. The storyline is extraordinary, and the director truly does tremendous justice to a period of history largely ignored until now. The faith of the Macedonian Jewish community by the Bulgarian army during World War II is an untold story and this movie gives them and the thousands who were killed a voice.

Soccer, love, Holocaust - the movie is based on a true story and very emotional. The director keeps you interested and engaged throughout the entire time, which is key to being a great movie. It is a movie I can watch over and over again, and will probably cry every time because of the storyline.

I highly recommend this movie and strongly believe it has very good chances to be nominated for Best Foreign Film - very promising.

I found this movie to be a beautiful love story while at the same time displaying the war-time atrocities of the Bulgarian Fascist Occupying Army. I read here many apologetic comments about the Bulgar massacres and genocide in Macedonia, of course, from Bulgarians and Greeks, who have a vested interest of presenting Republic of Macedonia in a bad light, as it makes their own fictitious national mythologies obvious lies. There is no need for apologias, the facts are clear, and luckily some of the few Macedonian Jews still surviving today are telling it as it was, as they saw it and experienced it (look it up on youtube, many interviews with survivors). They state very clearly: it was Bulgarian fascists that broke into their homes and threw them out in the middle of the night, it was Bulgarian fascists that loaded them into the trains to Treblinka Death Camp and gave the lists to the Germans. There are no two ways about it.

And for the little, insecure Greeks who forgot that Bulgaria was their eternal enemy and are now attacking the Republic of Macedonia as "having no history", "being a new country" and similar BS, I have one question: did the population of the Republic of Macedonia fall from the sky suddenly in 1991? Because that is the only way not to have history - if they fell from the sky. What they would like the world to forget is that Macedonians have fought for their own country for MILLENIA, and were always beaten down by Greek and Bulgarian thugs. The people of RoM today are the descendants of the same people living there for the last 4000 years. Sometimes they were called Greeks, sometimes Romans, sometimes Bulgarians, some times something else, but they were ALWAYS there, and today, of their own free will, they choose to be called Ethnic Macedonians, WITHOUT disavowing millenia of history and ancestry in which they were called by other names. That's all.

I would not dare to say that movie is an eye opener, unlike my fellow Anonymous New Yorker. I would not even believe someone educated enough can say that a movie (any movie) is an eye opener. A movie is a movie and can't be a substitute for real knowledge, book reading and history research. From this point of view I would agree with those who said that this specific movie distributes ideas meant to be planted in the minds of people who think movies (this one specifically) can open their eyes. This is the targeted audience and with a reason. "Bulgaria was a fascist country after all, during World War 2 at least" - oh, well, but so was Germany, Italy, Romania, Hungary, France, because of its collaborative government, etc. I would say so was even Yugoslavia since it signed a treaty with Nazi Germany, much the same as Bulgaria did, but then there was a coup there which dismissed that treaty shortly before Germany invaded. In the same train of thoughts one can say - Macedonia was a communist country after all, for much longer time than Bulgaria was a fascist country. And we know that there is only one small step going from fascism to communism. In a way Macedonia continues with the policies of the communist past even today. So what, do we need to find another eye-opening movie for that? I gave 2 to that movie only with respect to the effort some of the artists put into it. Otherwise, for me at least it is just serving a political agenda.

About the film itself: I am really disappointed. The film starts with a cliché and ends with a cliché. And whats in the middle? This movie is a terrible copy of some other films, theft of ideas. A big part of the shots, dialogues, scenes were seen at least hundreds of times in other, better movies.

About the political side: the fact that terms such as "Bulgarian fascism" etc are in circulation here, in reviews, without compliance with the scientific definition of the fascism, is an evidence of the propaganda purposes of the government of Republic of Macedonia, which financed the film. The Fascism is related to the whole structure of a country, not only with its foreign policy. If it were not so, I want to ask: Was Yugoslavia fascist country before the coup of March 1941. And what about USSR before June 1941?

I was doubtful at first but after watching this movie I can say that it's an eye opener and definitely worth a view. The acting was great. Basically, the only thing I can criticize it on was the fact that they used "football" instead of "soccer". Also the impact of having a fascist country as a neighbor. Don't judge it before you watch it yourself, but it definitely gets 10 stars from me. This is a perfect example of how the Jewish people lived during this time period, in Macedonia or anywhere else. Though I believe Bulgarian criticism for this movie was a tad exaggerated, Bulgaria was a fascist country after all, during World War 2 at least.

This is an extraordinary movie based on real events. It is a true story about the Jewish & Macedonian people living during that time. For all the Bulgarians that are born after World War II please watch this movie. These are true facts/event that you cannot delete them from the history. YES Bulgaria sign the "Tripartite Pact" also known as "Three-Power Pact" or "Axis Powers" in 01 March 1941. The movie start with the Macedonian football club that ....... i will leave the rest to you guys to watch and rate. This is so far the best Macedonian film to be ever made. However if you are movie lover you will love every bit of this movie, and if you are not, don't bother watching.

Enjoy

GReat & interesting movie.

Macedonia's best movie ever made. I belleive that Macedonia should make a movie, for the Greeks and how have the Greek done the greatest ethnic cleaning in the 20th century. But I'll stay on the subject for the Third Half.

Macedonia was an Ottoman Province, until 1913, when the Serbs came to the region of Vardar part of Macedonia. Macedonian language banned, nationality of the people Serbian, surnames switched from suffixes OV & SKI to ICH.

1941 - Yugoslavian Kingdom is captured by the Axis and Bulgarians are coming in Skopje, while Muslim Albanian Fachists are in Tetovo, Gostivar, Debar killing thousand of innocent Macedonians. Bulgarians were doing the same as the Serbs, all Macedonians became Bulgarians, and their surnames were forced the ending in -OV.

The Bulgarians are responsible for the death of near 70,000 Jews from Macedonia, and that is reality that they have to accept.

Your Truly, Goran Atanasovski author of www.travel2macedonia.com.mk - Macedonian tourism portal

I see that there are some people who really liked the movie. I respect their opinion and I condone it. But based on my criteria for cinema, it does not rise to, even, average. Is this a football film? Is it a love story? I did not get it. It is only sad that in Europe of the 21st century, people from the arts and the academia may be used so unscrupulously for one state's government propaganda. To represent or educate about history trough artistic cinematography takes a great deal of honesty and responsibility. Here I must acknowledge the following: Academy Award winner, the producer of Schindler's List Branko Lustig, who is of Croatian/Jewish descent, turned down the offer to produce the movie....And that speaks volumes!

I found this movie to be a tragically beautiful love story. I must state that I am horrified by the political comments I found about it all over the Web. I am sure the people who made the movie didn't intent to offend any country or nation, but to praise the life of a tormented woman who happened to live in the country where they were born. It is disgusting and unacceptable the fact that some people comment on the history they never seen and spit on the life told by the person who actually saw it all (with some movie adaptations оfcourse) . I warmly recommend that you see this movie and enjoy the love story of Rebecca and Kosta.

Facts in this movie are only half true, the other half is propaganda. Bulgaria did join the Axis. But also under increasing pressure to yield to German demands for safe passage of its troops to Greece, Yugoslavia (part of which was Vardar Banovina aka Macedonia today) signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, like Bulgaria and Hungary. Unlike the other two, however, the signatory government of Maček and Cvetković was overthrown three days later in a British-supported coup of patriotic, anti-German generals. Yugoslavia was invaded by Germany and signed its capitulation to Germany, Italy, Hungary and Croatia but not to Bulgaria. Since Macedonia was part of Yugoslavia ,that means it was occupied by part of the countries signing the capitulation - Germany and Italy. Bulgaria was not an occupying country in this sense, it was administrating Macedonia on behalf of Germany. As such it was ultimately under the orders of the Nazis. The Jewish deportation was a German affair, not Bulgarian, but Bulgarian police participated in gathering and transporting the Jews to Skopje and Lom, from where they were deported to Treblinka by the Germans. The football club in the movie was actually started by the Bulgarians, allowing it to be named Macedonia, something unthinkable during the Serbian rule. Hardly a fact supporting the idea that the footballers were an opposition to the Bulgarians at that time. Not to mention photographs where players from FC Macedonia do the Nazi salutation while the Bulgarian players next to them don't. There are many facts showing what was the truth about those events, one just needs to have a will to go dig them, think about them unbiased and not try to learn from the movies presenting them the way the strong rulers of today want them to be presented.

I agree with some comments that this movie is a lame copy of many movies with WW2 theme and very similar to the Serbian Montevideo bog te video regarding the main male acting role football player in pre and during the war era. But if you see it that way, you have missed the message and aim of this movie, and that is that Bulgaria as Germany partner in WW2 do some unforgettable crimes towards humanity , although not to their owns Jewish people but to their occupied territories - Macedonia. This is the main idea that should never be forgotten. That is why Bulgarians are making negative votes and critics creating such atmosphere so someone not involved in this can make wrong opinion about the movie.So my dear fellows Bulgarians do not be shame of your bad past, look towards the future,because we forgive you for what you have done to our neighbors and us.The question is can you forgive yourself for that.And yes we beat you in football every time since then till now.

I really have to thank Danndy Garbag for his reply. I've been trying to post my comment for several days now and every time it was deleted (one should wonder why). Since then Danndy Garbag's post disappeared or was deleted (probably because he was writing from Greece) but still he raised some points deserving answers.

I should start with a definition from Encyclopaedia Britanica: annexation, a formal act whereby a state proclaims its sovereignty over territory hitherto outside its domain. Unlike cession, whereby territory is given or sold through treaty, annexation is a unilateral act made effective by actual possession and legitimized by general recognition.

As was said before and in this age of Internet not difficult to verify, parts of the geographical region of Macedonia wеrе occupied by Nazi Germany, not Bulgaria. Bulgaria was administrating those lands on behalf of Germany. The status of Macedonia was left to be decided after the war. Furthermore, Adolf Heinz Beckerle, who was Hitler's ambassador in Bulgaria during the war, was arrested by the Russians in 1945. As the German Der Spiegel writes, the protocols from the interrogations not only of Beckerle but of other prominent German figures were recently made public and collected in few volumes in Russia. According to those protocols Beckerle confessed for the following: "Following the orders of Himmler I managed to achieve the deportation of 14000 to 15000 Jews from Macedonia and Thrace. On my demand they were transported to Poland. I'm not aware of their further fate." Bulgarian police did take part in gathering the Jews from Bitola and Skopje, that is true. Jews were transported to Poland from detention centers in Skopje and Bulgarian town of Lom. There were 3 train transports out of Skopje, all of them organized and guarded by Germans - documented according to the Israeli Yad Vashem. There were 4 ships out of Lom to Viena - 3 Yugoslavian and 1 German. It is also known that when the transports to Lom were passing through Bulgarian territory, at one of the train stations Bulgarian peasants armed with really whatever they could find tried to forcefully set the Jews free. The German soldiers were ordered to act energetically. To prevent further escalation this matter was brought to Boris III - the tzar of Bulgaria. He said his hands were tied since Jews from Macedonia were not Bulgarian citizens. On this matter it is not difficult to verify facts with the results from the Wanesse meeting (where Nazis decided on the fate of European Jews) - the so called Wanesse list. There, for Bulgaria they had 48,000 Jews which was the Jewish population before April 1941 in old Bulgaria. This comes to show that Nazis didn't recognize the Bulgarian jurisdiction over the Macedonian and Thrace Jews. Jews deportation from Macedonia was not really secret - in Skopje Jews were held in the Tobacco Monopoly for about 2 weeks. And again, no one from Macedonia moved a pinkie to free them. I can't exclude few acts where Jews were hidden by their Christian neighbors, such isolated cases happened all over Europe. But interesting, if this was so widespread in Macedonia, why then their government propagands that the entire Macedonian Jewish population was exterminated during the war. Danndy Garbag, I don't know who your grandmother is. But it is well known that Serbs and Greeks were the ones who forcibly changed Macedonian names to Serbian resp. Greek. No such thing for example happened to people from Pirin Macedonia (the Bulgarian part of Macedonia) - and there was no need for that - people in Pirin are one of the staunchest Bulgarians. Lastly, Bulgarian troops were indeed met with jubilation and flowers by Macedonian population and no guns and no bombs behind them. Documents, movie trailers and pictures abound from that time. Anything to the contrary is just modern day FYROM's propaganda with a communist taste,too. Maybe suffice to say that Tito had to import Serbian partisans into Macedonia to fight the Bulgarian army, there were not enough volunteers from the Macedonians themselves. Yes, it is indeed important for the foreign readers not to get mistaken watching the movie and believing that's what happened. Any loss of life, especially one on the scale of the Jewish Holocaust is a human tragedy. But it is enormously wrong to use this for propaganda purposes in a way this movies does. Nowadays we are fortunate, there is Internet and lots of information. People can make educated decisions easier compared to, say, 20 years ago.

This movie is a brilliant example of the propaganda, which uses some some groups in today's Republic of Macedonia. Well-made propaganda, which aims to strengthen the macedonistic national doctrine, casting shadow on the main "threat" – the Bulgarian past of Slavic Macedonians. It was no coincidence that the government in Skopje sponsored this film. Various facts are true in this mess of the historical point of view (Bulgaria was on the side of Germany etc.), but other are incorrect. An example for manipulation of facts is the invention of a conflict between the population in Vardar Macedonia and that in other parts of the then Bulgaria. To transfer present (macedonistic) realities on the (nonmacedonistic) past of Vardar Macedonia, when only a small fraction of our people (Slavic Macedonians) was against Bulgaria - Communists and Serbs, is unfair. When the German troops defeated Yugoslavia, the population in Vardar Macedonia hopes Bulgaria to administer these lands. Unfortunately, in these lands has both management of Bulgarian authorities and a significant presence of German troops. This is the reason for the giving of Jews from the region - incomplete sovereignty of Bulgaria. Where Bulgaria has full sovereignty, the Jews were saved. However there is a need to think and write clearly about these facts, not distorted them and used for propaganda through films.

P.S. Only to add that the coach of the team in Skopje, the Hungarian Jew Ilesh Spitz, during the deportation of the Jews of Vardar Macedonia was released thanks to an intervention by the chairman of the football club, the Macedonian Bulgarian Dimitar Chkatrov. Chkatrov was executed as "an enemy of the people" by communist authorities in 1945.