Do You Remember Dolly Bell?

"Every day in every way,
I'm getting better"
Dino, Do You Remember Dolly Bell? (1981)

Our journey back to Kusturica's films takes us to his first feature film, Do You Remember Dolly Bell? Kusturica, fresh back from film school in Prague had created a couple of TV shorts before he created Dolly Bell in 1981. The film is set in 1960s Sarajevo, where young Dino and his friends pass their time with music, cinema, experiment with hypnotism lessons, exaggerate about imaginary girlfriends and also do the odd bit of pocket-picking at the market. When a local tough, Sonny, tells Dino to hide Dolly Bell, a local prostitute, in the loft, Dino falls in love with the girl and has an awakening.

This film tells a coming-of-age tale very lovingly, and is based on Kusturica's own growing up in Sarajevo. It depicts a world where traditions and socialism exist, where the father returns home drunk only to wake his sons up to convene a committee meeting with an agenda on the happenings of the day, while the youngest son, Midho, writes the minutes:

"Well, good. Now write. First item: school."

"Dad, it's the holidays. There's no school."

"Excuse me, Midho. Cross that out. Write: report on financial undertakings."

"That's first."

"Second item: Dino, shit."

"Write "shit." Write it!"

"Kerim, shit, too."

"Kerim will chair the meeting. So you don't think your dad's drunk."

(Kerim) "I hereby open the meeting. Dad to speak."

"I propose we be brief. We must be more constructive."

"I personally have nothing against private, that is personal, initiative. We must stimulate individual creativity in our socialist society."

Kusturica's storytelling, his eye for a scene and his sentimental involvement with the subject make this film a beautiful story, one that does not require high drama, special effects or complicated plots. It rather describes a life which was simple, when people used to be happy with the few things they had and always made time for enjoyment and friendship. Central to the film are the themes of friendship, adolescence, poverty, tradition, religion, with a bit of Marxism thrown in between glasses of Slivovica (šljivovica) for good measure. Ultimately, Dolly Bell depicts a world that was to be eventually ruined by the war in a time when its inhabitants were blissfully unaware of their future. It most certainly pains my heart to watch the happiness in a 1981 Sarajevo film, with the hindsight of the horrific war of the early 90s. None of that here though. Besides, the film is set in a time when optimism about the socialist society was at a high. A subtle masterpiece.

“On the sea's blue beach

Where a soft wind blows

I dreamed of a blonde

Oh, how happy I was

And as I spoke to her

Her lips trembled so...”

Underground (1995)

"I know where you're going. To see that whore!"
"No, I'm going to defend my country"

Blacky to his wife, Underground

Today I would like to take you back in time. Back to 1995. That was when Emir Kusturica, the Bosnian director, released Underground. The film tells the story of two friends-members of the Communist Party, Marko and Blacky, who spend their lives drinking, dancing and having fun in Belgrade of the 1940's. The Nazi invasion of 1941 disrupts the lives of the two friends in a dramatic fashion. Blacky takes refuge in an underground bunker in order to continue the resistance during the German occupation, while Marko goes on to become one of the leaders of the Party and claim the woman they both loved, Natalja. This fits perfectly with Marko's plans to dominate the Party and keep Natalja for himself, while his friend is locked up in a basement, making weapons 'for the cause' long after the war has ended. Fate makes it so that Blacky emerges from his hole in the 1990's, during the war which tore Yugoslavia apart. And he wants revenge...

Kusturica tells the story of Yugoslavia like a modern combination of Homer and Dante. While the background of the story is unmistakably political, the foreground is dominated by people, their desires, their faults, their envies and weaknesses. This is all woven with the yarn of Goran Bregovic's gypsy music (a dominant theme in many Kusturica films). In fact, the film soundtrack is a hit in its own right. Allegory is interchanged with harsh reality: dancing, singing, sex, love, hate, comedy and tragedy all become one; they become a force which tore the country to shreds. Kusturica's Underground, is a film which combines light-hearted comedy with deep tragedy, an emotional rollercoaster which captures 1990's Yugoslavia. The events of the past 60 years or so have become fertile ground for many ex-Yugoslav directors and artists. Out of the tragedy springs art.