I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Reading some of his interviews, I'm not surprised that Emir Kusturica, one of the greatest European directors, despised political movies. Some directors use their movies to make a commentary, which is fine as long as the story allows the viewers to extract the 'political' substance by themselves. Have you noticed that everything is political today? From the movies to their awards campaign, everything revolves around issues such as race, gender or resulting discrimination, and that trend might inspire some filmmakers to try to have a shot by making something 'relevant' instead of something that speak to them. Today, no one should ever be allowed to be personal about himself unless it's for some political statement likely to inspire claps, cheers and nods. There's nothing wrong with being unpopular but with all the media outrage frenzy of our twitter-driven era, you're only unpopular when you're ostracized, and your detractors can cut off your capacity to reach people.That's why Kusturica could have never made movies for Hollywood, or under the studio system. That's why, out of all the directors who tell political stories, Kusturica can make the most politically rich movies without being prisoner of one ideological perception. His Golden Palm winning "Underground" could be regarded as a magnificent and epic retrospective of the history of ex-Yugoslavia, but the film is also a vibrant, exuberant and musically driven orgy of booze, sex and passion that says more about the soul of the Balkans than any other thing. Kusturica speaks from the heart and portray characters who generally care about regimes and ideologies in the realm of their personal greed or lust, they're strong but weak, big guys acting like children. So much for political engagement.And it also seems that Kustrucia, more than any other else, knows one thing or two about human hubris. One of my regrets was to have discovered "Undeground" before Fellini's movies and couldn't spot the connection when I finally discovered the Maestro. Now, I can fix it and say that maybe Kusturica is the most Fellinian director but he's like Fellini with a social commentary, maybe the neo-realisitic Fellini and it shows even more in his first Golden Palm winner "When Father Was Away on Business" (Kusturica is one of the few directors to have won the Palm twice), the story whose euphemistic title doesn't prepare for how sad it is, how dramatic and yet comedic and catching at others. Forgive for the cliché, but "like life I guess".The film takes place in Sarajevo, in 1950, at the midst of the Stalin Tito Split, the DVD bonus features provide many information, they are so helpful I'd recommend to check them first. In fact, there's an irony in the history of Yugoslavia, the people were proud to fight the Nazis, they didn't totally surrender to Stalin's hegemony, wanting to be treated as an equal, much to the Soviet Master's anger. The film contains many football games between the two countries and you can tell that Yugoslavians are taking their victories damn seriously. The film was made the same year than the Heysel tragedy, just to remind that the setting of the film never deprives from its timeless and universal value. Still, what a tragic irony that this pride was a double-edged sword leading Yugoslavian multiculturalism to cause its downfall.The Split lead to the formation of a bureau named Informibrio and whose mission was to spot any potential agent of the Soviet or someone malcontent enough to become a troublemaker. It's a sort of Yugoslavian "HUAC" with the same paranoid implications. But Kusturica doesn't shout it clear and loud, he only starts his film with a man singing "Chiquita", that he picked a Mexican song instead of an American or Russian one implicitly tells you the kind of attitudes that can get you in trouble. But sometimes, it can be worse than singing. The pivotal moment occurs when Mesa, a communist functionary played by Miki Manojlovic (he was the unforgettable Marco in "Underground") criticizes a cartoon in newspaper "Politika". Mesa just state something like "they're really going too far", and the comment wouldn't have taken him too far if it wasn't for his mistress to hear him. Hurt after because he can' divorce from his wife, lshe denounces him to his brother-in-law and it's a matter of a few days to get him arrested and go "far away on business". Then starts a series of life episode involving his patient and enduring wife Mirjana Karanovic (also starring in "Underground") and the two boys, a geeky photography buff played by the late Davor Dujmovic, and a chubby kid Mario De Bartolli, he's the narrator and the film is punctuated with many episodes involving his sleepwalking."When Father Was Away on Business" is both a family drama and a touching coming-of-age story that never overplays the pathos or the lyricism. Sarajevo is a town where four religions meet, Kusturica makes the same point by showing a Muslim family, practicing circumcision rituals, an orthodox funeral and people of different backgrounds drinking and dancing together. As if he was sleepwalking during his own journey, Kusturica says the most without saying much, knowing that you're never as touched by a politican story when you can't touch its political content. The film could have been set anywhere, anytime, it doesn't say much about the regime, only the ongoing paranoia when every word can cause your downfall.And before you consider yourself luck not to have to endure this, remember that, at the midst of the metoo movement, an actor like Damon suffered severe backlash for a comment he made. And how many actors now are "away on business" because of an accusation or a suspicion. Sorry to make these interfere with the movie but while I expected a 1980's drama that would have aged a little, I didn't expect a film to be so relevant.

Compelling, humorous, thought-provoking, realistic, timeless. All the ingredients of a great film. No wonder that it was nominated as a Best Foreign Film Oscar. The film is narrated through the thoughts and words of six-year-old Malik whose father Mesha has been sent to mine coal for a wayward remark made about a newspaper cartoon...and fooling' around (ahem). His innocence translates the often difficult issues for viewers into what could easily have been difficult to watch at times.I appreciate the film because it is NOT the usual war-ravaged, bloody story of Bosnia/Yugoslavia but a human study on the strengths and weaknesses of each family member capsuled into this fantastic film. The quiet observations compel viewers to see and almost experience the joys & sadness of each character.

This is yet another film where I had some problem figuring out many plot elements and character relationships, where some of the blame might rest on having to rely on subtitles. I also do not know much of the complicated history of Bosnia, so that didn't help me to understand the context, either.It took me at least half the film to figure out all of the character relationships, and this is really a "slice of life" story--albeit set, in the 1950s, in what's apparently a confusing, changing, communist political landscape. But it's important to know each character's relation to other characters as well as a bit of their personal backgrounds and histories with each other--character development is of primary importance, but I'm not sure it was always fleshed-out as it needed to be.It also didn't help (as it never does in any film) that a few characters looked very similar, and at least one has a major change of appearance, and a major change back. For example, I never was completely clear on whether the woman on the train with the father at the beginning, with whom he was having an affair (he was quite the philanderer), was also the female pilot in the airshow, and also the gym teacher, who was also his brother-in-law's wife. And the reason that the father went away to some kind of prison work camp was never very clear to me either. Ostensibly it was because he made a remark about a cartoon in a newspaper, but that seems ridiculous (although maybe that's more realistic than I can imagine and is part of the point), and I kept thinking that the real reason was for the brother-in-law to get back at him for the affair with the brother-in-law's wife.In any event, despite my confusion, this is a fairly good film, with great performances. The family's youngest son is at times a narrator and is featured in a poignant subplot, but Otac na sluzbenom putu would have benefited by making him even more of the focus and point of view.

Winner of the award for Best Film at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Film, Emir Kusturica's When Father Was Away on Business is a blend of comedy, family drama, and political realism that is courageous, funny, and deeply moving. The title of the film refers to the lie told to a six-year-old to cover up the fact that his father was serving time in a labor camp for making a thoughtless remark that offended the Communist apparatchiks. Set in Yugoslavia in 1950 after the break between Stalin and Tito, it was a time of confusion when people worshiped Stalin one week and despised him the next. The story is told from the perspective of six-year-old Malik (Moreno D'E Bartolli) and his performance is natural and convincing.His father Mesa (Miki Manojlovic) is a low-level bureaucrat who spends more time womanizing and drinking than attending to his job. A casual remark filled with sarcasm about a political cartoon made to his wife Sena's (Mirjana Karanovic) sister-in-law Ankica (Mira Furlan), leads to his arrest and detention by Zijo (Mustafa Nadarevic), a Communist Party official who also happens to be his wife's brother. Mesa is sent to work in the mines while Sena becomes a seamstress to make ends meet and his sensitive son starts sleepwalking, perhaps a wry metaphor for the status of the people under Marshal Tito.The family does reunite when Mesa is sent to a remote settlement for further re-socialization but he does not change his ways and visits prostitutes with the party official in charge of his rehabilitation, using Malik as his escort. In a sub-plot, Malik (who looks and acts more like ten or eleven than six) "falls in love" with a girl about his age who is suffering from a serious blood disorder and their inevitable separation is quite touching. Though family relations are strained, especially between Sena, Zijo, and Ankica, the family is very strong and we know that somehow they will endure. When Father Was Away on Business is perhaps the least daring cinematic ally of all of Kusturica's works but it is one of the most heartfelt and gained the director his first international success, paving the way for the full maturation of his vision in the brilliant and disturbing Underground.