A chaotic, tragicomic carnival of history where magical realism meets war-torn Yugoslavia. Through a surreal lens, it explores betrayal and illusion in a cellar that becomes a metaphor for a country disconnected from reality.

Underground

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"ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A COUNTRY"

13 May 1995 Yugoslavia 170 min ⭐ 7.7 (751)

Director: Emir Kusturica

Cast: Predrag 'Miki' Manojlović, Lazar Ristovski, Mirjana Joković, Slavko Štimac, Ernst Stötzner

Drama War Comedy

The Manipulation of History and Truth Plato's Cave and Isolation Fratricide and Civil War Dionysian Vitality vs. Destruction

Budget: $14,000,000

Underground - Easter Eggs & Hidden Details

Easter Eggs

Kusturica's Cameo

Director Emir Kusturica appears in a cameo as an arms dealer negotiating with Marko during the 1990s war segment, blurring the line between creator and his creation's chaos.

Film-within-a-film

In the third act, a film crew is shooting a propaganda movie based on Marko's memoirs titled 'Spring Comes On A White Horse'. The actors playing 'Blacky' and 'Marko' in the fake movie wear costumes identical to the real characters' outfits from Part 1, creating a meta-commentary on how history is turned into kitsch.

Reference to Fassbinder

The scene where Kusturica (as the arms dealer) interacts with Marko is a visual homage to Rainer Werner Fassbinder's role in his own film The Marriage of Maria Braun, another film about a country (Germany) rebuilding itself after war.

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