La batalla de Neretva

Is this the greatest Yugoslav Partisan film or not. This movies is like Rambo before Rambo. Full of Action.Love and Drama. Some will say it is a propaganda movie by Tito but that is because they do not like the movie. Absolutely worth 2 hours and 46 minutes. If you have a free Sunday give this movie a go. Movie about the Heroism that were Yugoslav Partizans.

I have seen most of the Yugoslav Partisan movies and I find "Bitka an Neretvi" in all aspects the best one. I wont describe the movie itself, you must see it yourself, and it is worth it. However, I would like to update some potential "non-Yugoslav" viewers about some important facts about that movie. The movie was made in 1969, in that period Yugoslav socialist/communist (as you like it)regime was running the most open-minded and "liberal" politics in his whole history. At that time some critics about regimes most outstanding icons were possible. The Partisan movement in WWII was one of them. A figure of a "Partisan" was in official ideological interpretation considered as a natural born patriot, ready to sacrifice, fully political aw eared, in two words: A man of steal, almost a mythical figure only possible to be compared with an ancient hero. In "Bitka Na Neretvi" we are faced with quiet another partisan hero. It is still a hero, but the one who knows the fear. One scene is thus so fascinating when you see partisans running off the battle line, screaming: "They are gonna kill us all!" Another scene shows elements of Partisan cruelty in discussion what to do with wounded comrades, one commandant says:"Whats more important, the fate of the revolution or the fate of our wounded comrades?" That kind of scenes would have been in pure propaganda movie impossible, as well as in John Wayne type of war movie. Other details are also very interesting. You would hard to notice the word of communism or communists, completely different as another movie "Bitka Na Sutjesci". The main hero is thus The People itself. Josip Broz Tito is only present in a short military order. Worth of notification is also the representation of the enemies. Germans are of course evil, but described as noble opponents. Italians are sometimes shown almost even more humanly than partisans, with moral doubt (Two Italian defectors even join partisans). The worst characters are collaborationist: Chetniks and Ustashas, shown as cold-blooded murderers.

An amazing film. I have seen a 1h24 version, which is cut (you might say shot)to pieces, and it is like a Western European person's understanding of that part of the war - seen as though far away. You can't even tell the uniforms apart, which makes it all the more moving. You have no idea who is friend or foe. This is Europe tearing itself apart. And it's incomprehensible. All that's left is the terrible human (and equine - they did this on foot and on horseback) cost.

Knowing that Yougoslavia recently went through all this again makes it even more tragic.

The music is fabulous too.

I think I shall try to find a full 2 hour Yougoslave version.

In January 1943 during WWII , Yugoslavian partisans are facing German and Italian troops . German Army afraid of Allied invasion of Balkans, launched great offensive against Yugoslav Partisans in Western Bosnia , as these one battle for freedom . The only way out for Partisan forces and thousands of refugees was the bridge on the river Neretva. The name Neretva, of the film's English title The Battle of the River Neretva or The Battle of the Neretva, is a name of Illyrian origin, and is the largest river of the eastern part of the Adriatic Sea basin and is situated in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia.

Big budget war movie contains thrills , emotion , historical events and impressive battles with a cast of thousands . However , lost continuity with excessive cuts . This movie's massive budget was personally approved by then Yugoslav president Tito. It was the first of the Yugoslav World War II film productions that were sponsored by the Yugoslav Government State and with funds provided by fifty-eight Yugoslave state . Very good main and support cast such as Yul Brynner as Vlado , Hardy Krüger as Col. Kranzer , Franco Nero as Capt. Michele Riva , Sylva Koscina as Danica , Orson Welles as Chetnik Senator , Curd Jürgens as Gen. Lohring ,Anthony Dawson and director Sergey Bondarchuk as Martin . At the time of its production, this was the most expensive film ever made in Eastern Europe ,outside the Soviet Unión . This movie was originally released at 175 minutes but was reduced by its US distributors to only 102 minutes when released in America. Atmospheric cinematography by Tomislav Pinter , though to need a good remastering . Evocative and military musical score by the classic Bernard Herrmann , Hitchcock's usual composer . Great production design and breathtaking outdoors . To shoot a railway bridge being blown-up, the movie's director, Veljko Bulajic wished to do it for real as it would, he believed, act as a tourist attraction after the shoot. A full-scale replica railway bridge was built in Jablanica and blown up but the smoke from the blasting prevented any visible and usable shots. The bridge was then repaired, re-built for a second time, and blown up again with the same result. Finally, to capture the bridge being blown up, a small-scale miniature model was used. The motion picture was regularly directed by Veljko Bulajic, including excessive cuts and some scenes with no sense . It was the most expensive Yugoslav movie ever made and taking sixteen months in production to shoot and complete.

The picture was based on historical deeds , these are the followings : The Battle of the Neretva was a World War II battle launched by the Nazis and running between January and April 1943 in the environs of the River Neretva, Herzegovina, then Nazi German occupied Yugoslavia. The Battle was code-named Fall Weiss and was named after this neighboring Neretva River. The battle was a combined Nazi strategic plan involving Axis Allies Italy, Croatian Ustasha (Croatian Revolutionary Movement) and Chetniks (Serbian Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia) units to wipe out the Yugoslav Partisans from German Nazi occupied Yugoslavia. The battle of Neretva is also known as the Fourth Anti-Partisan Offensive; the Fourth Enemy Offensive, as well as The Battle for the Wounded.

It is sad that the most widely distributed version of this Yugoslavian war epic "Bitka na Neretvi" is the 102 minute version edited and dubbed in USA by Commonwealth United Films. This version, known as "The Battle of Neretva" has been shortened by a full hour. It looks a bit like a long trailer, offering samples of what is obviously a big scale, melodramatic giant of a film, like "The Longest Day". At times the re-editing looks like it has been made with an axe, some dialogue being cut from the middle of a sentence.

I have just seen, however, a longer Commonwealth version: 127 minutes, 25 minutes longer. This is a far superior version, professionally edited into a coherent, well flowing narrative. It seems that the 102 minute "stub" has been edited from this. I can only imagine how much deeper the characterization would be with the 40 minutes still missing from the original. The Italian and German versions are longer than this 127 minute version, and they have been released on DVD. Still, for anyone preferring an English translation, this could be the best version around. Sadly it only seems to be available on VHS.