Nacionalna klasa

"National Class" is about a guy whose auto-racing career is much more important to him than any other life issue. The movie follows his attempts to avoid both the army and marriage in a matter of week, eventually failing in both. He usually drives around in his Zastava 750, sits at caffe's and takes no significant responsibilities. With a synopsis like this, the first film that comes to my mind is "Once Upon a Time There Was a Singing Blackbird", but this has much more comic input than Iosseliani's movie. Goran Markovic's masterpiece is one of the most beloved Serbian films of all time. It's more than a successful comedy. The highest points are magnificent and clever dialogue, as well as the elaboration and variety of characters, one funnier after another. If you're looking for an empty eye-candy that is likely to win any of the festival nowadays, skip this.

A racer and his broken car, his no-good mechanic, his pregnant girlfriend, his gay friends, his assistant in double-crossing the military officials, are the basic ingredients of this sparkling comedy. There is also a variety of supporting characters, ranging from owner of Chech car who is prosecuting our hero on account of the car accident, to high politician who should fix a purchase of an expensive racing car as a wedding gift to the racer and his girlfriend who is politician`s daughter. Meanwhile, racer has to manage to avoid recruiting, since he can`t stand the army, and the wedding, since he can`t stand the marriage. Overall, one fine comedy with inevitable race in the end, which can win or lose everything for our hero.

Despite the somewhat lame plot this has aged rather well - mostly due to good all round performances from some of the usual acting suspects of Serbian cinema, who were in this instance given credible dialogues to work with and were backed by a steady and competent direction by Goran Markovic. The film also takes a fab and unique snapshot of the city of Belgrade in the late seventies, when life and times suddenly became more affluent and marginally less constrained by the country politics. Fuelled by a feel good disco soundtrack (which helped launch the careers of the likes of Aleksandra Sladjana Milosevic and Oliver Mandic amongst others), the movie introduces (albeit diffidently) what is probably the first gay character in Serbian cinema, and delivers a heartfelt homage to a little car with a big soul that tends to break down a bit too often - the famous Fiat/Zastava 750, at the time the most popular car in the country - and the most affordable. An hour and a half of very enjoyable local movie nostalgia depicting some altogether more innocent times. And you can also boogie to the tunes.

So much fun... A simple story, with great characters and fine screen writing, as well as acting. And an unforgettable soundtrack. An unpretentious little film that does everything right. I am not surprised people love it.

Some of the greatest YU actors in a very entertaining drama about a twenty-seven-year-old driver, who in all ways tries to evade the army to advance in a racing career. The film depicts typical Balkan family and general human relations in the time of socialism and the delayed puberty of Brana Floyd, whose life is reduced to avoiding any kind of responsibility, while chasing skirts all over Belgrade, in his racing Zastava 750. In my opinion, one of the best roles of Dragan Nikolic.

7,5/10