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All for FreeDirected by Antonio Niuc, 2006 By Rada Djurica All for Free is a small tragi-comedy co-produced by three ex-Yugoslavian countries and represents an attractive entry for festivials such as the Belgrade New Author Film Festival, as well as an adventurous production challenge. In a long opening sequence Goran (Rakan Rushaidat), narrates a story of four village friends who booze all day. Civil war has left them physically and emotionally crippled, and after another postwar tragedy, Goran buys a refreshment truck to travel around Bosnia and share soft drinks for free. This creates suspicion, which leads him into several nicely done comic solutions. Goran falls for pretty Maja (Natasa Janjic), which makes him break his vow not to drink any more and to stay a second day in town. Loving Maja involves him in a love triangle with Ljubo (Emir Hadzihafizbegovic), as Maja herself is as trapped in hopless mourning. The film is a metaphor for Bosnia's disoriented post-war generation, even if it goes in a completely irrational, no win direction. All for Free displays a calm charm without fireworks. It the sadness recognizable in recent Bosnian films, even if it’s a Croatian entry. Film director Antonio Nuic captures the emptiness of the Bosnian village and the unwillingness to carry on lives after the civil war. Although the film's cruel, gentle, tragic and lyrical poetic absurdity won't set viewers on fire, the film is neatly rescued from the pretentiousness of other post war films. Belgrade's New Author Film Festival |
