El baile de la sirena

One of the most beautiful movies ever made in ex Yu.Story is very familiar to people in ex Yul because generation after war used to live in the same way.People in the west cant imagine how political situation in our country affect people.The plot is in the 50",When Josip Broz Tito said no to the SSSR and politbiro and because of that our borders becomes open for western influence.But,in a country were people didn't had much money jeans was only ideal and friendship was everything.The friendship between for young people an a girl was so strong that after 40 years of their emigration from Yu is still alive.They get together after all this years on Ester"s funeral and they start to remember of their childhood,before their went to the emigration and become successful people.

I was intrigued by the title, so during a small bout of insomnia (fueled by my curiosity...), I stayed up and watched it. I then checked my TV listings and watched it again! There is one very obvious realization that occurred to me when I saw this film- in spite of politics, traditions, culture, etc., teenagers everywhere are virtually the same. The characters of the kids from Belgrade could have been transported to, let's say, somewhere in the American Midwest during the same time period, and language differences aside, would be impossible to tell apart from any of the local teens of that era. They certainly displayed the same growing pains and preoccupations, politics aside: Music, sex, movie idols, music, drinking, sports, music... As a matter of fact, much the same things that occupied my time growing up in 1970's Southern California.

This was a bittersweet story, but the joy of youth made it very enjoyable. The characters, especially the young actors, were completely believable also. I won't say this was the Yugoslav "American Graffiti", but I will say that it fits in nicely with other 50's-themed movies.

This coming of age movie is significantly more than just that; it is a metaphor for Yugoslav expatriates who left their beloved country after it was cleverly and tragically tricked by the false pretenses of the communists.

Re: Pro Jury

Although the lead actress is STRIKINGLY beautiful, the plot stands little chance of acceptance because too many distracting details face the audience during the unfolding of the story.

One may believe that middle-class teen-age school girls in the 1950's easily gave away their virginity without thought of marriage to 30-year-old's they barely know, but I doubt it.

"EASILY GIVE AWAY VIRGINITY"? WHAT A SHREWD REMARK ABOUT THIS FILM. TRULY.

One may believe that young high school teens are highly self-confident and self-assured as they interact with their elders in complex social situations, but my experience has been, more often than not, teenagers feel very awkward and act clumsy as they experiment in the adult world.

YOU JUST AREN'T AT ALL ABLE TO SEE THE WORLD OTHER THAN THROUGH YOUR OWN EYES? THAT'S SAD.

One may believe that a experienced medical doctor would not know the pungent oder of Stroptomycin -- the smelly fermenting byproduct of busy earth microbes -- and not detect that some lifeless bland powder is fake, but I think not.

AND ANOTHER "EXPERT" OPINION DRAWN FROM EXPERIENCE. DANDY.

One may believe that 30-something-year-old troublemakers can enter into, and hang around inside, a public school rec hall during a school social and make trouble, but I think that school socials are traditionally a protected environment and parents, chaparones and school staff would be around to prevent this.

NOW BE A GOOD SPORT AND TELL US AT WHICH INSTITUTION YOU GREW UP.

One final nit, throughout Hey Babu Riba the five teenage friends referred to themselves as the foursome. There is probably an explanation why the FIVE were the FOURsome, but because it was never detailed, each reference distracts from each scene.

OF COURSE THERE'S PROBABLY AN EXPLANATION. GOOD JOB FIGURING THAT OUT! NOW I'LL BE GENEROUS AND WILL HELP YOU OUT OF YOUR MISERY: ALTHOUGH IT WAS TRANSLATED AS A GENERAL "FOURSOME", THE WORD "čETVORKA" HAS ANOTHER MEANING: IT'S A SPORTS TERM USED TO DESIGNATE A 4M OR 4W SETUP - A ROWING CREW CONSISTING OF 5 PERSONS: 4 ROWERS AND A COXSWAIN.

This movie did not ring true for me.

WE SHOULD ALL HEED TO YOUR COMPETENT AND PRAISEWORTHY OPINION. DUDE.

In the mid 1980s--before Yugoslavia broke apart and unleashed the strife and ethnic cleansing that prompted international intervention--Torvill and Dean skated "Bolero" on the Olympic ice rink at Sarajevo, and the not yet fractured nation gave us one of the more memorable European films of the era.

Hey Babu Riba presents the beautifully bittersweet story of a quartet of teenagers who form a rowing team, and the female coxswain with whom each is in love. The movie is set dually in summer 1953 and September 1985, in the first case just after the death of Joseph Stalin. The Soviet dictator, despite his demise, has a residual presence in the form of a forearm tattoo and a menacing group of apparatchiks from the ministry of culture (propaganda).

Glen, Sasha, Kicha, Pop, and Mirjana are a "four"--referring to the number of oars, not the number of friends--with quadruple aspirations to become a pair. They are Yankophiles, and take English classes from a woman in Belgrade. When Glen asserts, "I know that Glenn Miller is the best musician in the world," their teacher coaches them that an English speaker would not say, "I know…." in such a context, but rather, "I think…." When the young man applies the lesson at (what appears to be) the U.S. Information Agency office, he finds to his astonishment that his rehearsed memorization works conversationally, although the hip young African-American who staffs the office prefers Gershwin.

Which sets up some background from which the ensuing plot unfolds. Hey Babu Riba opens on a boxcar, approaching the northern Croatian coast, to the singing of "Te Quiero Dijiste" (1929) by Mexican female composer Maria Grever (1894-1951). It comes to the group by way of its use in a 1944 Esther Williams movie, Bathing Beauty. The coxswain thus becomes not Mirjana, but Esther, and the song, which pervades Hey Babu Riba, imprints itself as the movie's signature. The result is a classic of nostalgic youth. Jovan Acin (1941-1991) is the director.