Bitka na Neretvi

Allegedly the most expensive film ever undertaken by the Yugoslav film industry, The Battle Of The Neretva is a tribute to the Partisan army that Josip Broz Tito raised to resist the Nazi occupation of his country. Operating in the mountains, the Partisans proved to be tough nut to crack for the occupying Axis armies.

The country of Yugoslavia which was created by the Allied countries at the Versailles Treaty did not long out last the man who saved it. That was once Yugoslavia is several separate states now. It was an unwieldy conglomerate nation composed of several ethnic groups with various religious backgrounds who had a legacy of Balkan hate of centuries. The Chetniks who collaborated with the Nazis just wanted to make sure they came out on top no matter who won the war. The monarchy of Yugoslavia was that of the former Serbia raised to be ruling all of what became Yugoslavia. No one who was Croatian, Montenegran, Macedonian, etc. wanted Serbian primacy. The Marxist Tito was more acceptable to most than a Serbian king.

A lot of the politics is necessary to know in order to understand what was going on while this battle was being fought. The Germans launched an offensive in the winter of 1943 aimed at wiping out Tito's Partisans and they did drive them to the Neretva River where ordered to stand with their backs to said river offering no retreat, the Partisans turned around and instead and kicked Nazi butt.

The Battle Of Neretva is a brutally uncompromising film about ugly guerrilla war and the version I saw is a slimmed down version. I'm betting I would have rated it higher had I seen the original 3 hours the film's release in Yugoslavia was exhibited at.

Such various international players as Yul Brynner, Franco Nero, Orson Welles, Curt Jurgens, and Hardy Kruger all have some interesting cameos. But the stars are the Yugoslav players most of you won't know in this film. I'm sure the Oscar for Best Foreign language film is based on the Academy voters having the original to judge.

This film is a nice tribute to a part of World War II that is not talked about too much in the west.

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.

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.

"The Battle of Neretva" is an often confusing, badly edited mess… on American home video, that is. I've seen multiple versions of this film, and combined, they make one fine epic. Unfortunately, it has yet to be released in its entirety domestically on video or DVD, so it's hard for me to piece together a review of 3 entirely different movies.

In 1943, Hitler orders the final destruction of the Yugoslav Partisans. The Partisans begin a trek northward to the relative safety of the Bosnian Mountains – their goal is to cross the treacherous Neretva gorge over one remaining bridge. Along the way, they battle German tanks, Italian infantry, Chetnik Cavalry, strafing airplanes, disease and natural elements.

Yugoslav director Bulajic is telling his story from all points of view, but his sympathies lie with the Partisans. The film has pro-Communist leanings, and tells several interwoven stories stressing the importance of comradeship in wartime. There are many important characters: Yul Brynner ("Morituri") is crack demolition expert Vlado; Sergei Bondarchuk (director of "Waterloo") is short-tempered artillery officer Martin; Franco Nero ("The Mercenary") is an Italian Captain with no faith in Fascism; Hardy Kruger ("A Bridge too Far") is Colonel Kranzer, who fights with dedication which begins to dwindle as he realizes the bitter reality that the partisans are a formidable enemy; Ljubisa Samardzic ("Battle of the Eagles") and Sylva Koscina ("Hornets' Nest") are brother-and-sister, and Koscina is to marry Ivan (Lojze Rozman) after the war; the list goes on and on, and although every character is significant, it's impossible to list them all. There's an interesting twist, too: the legendary Orson Welles plays a Chetnik Senator who battles for concessions with General Lohring (the great Curd Jurgens), a committed Nazi officer who is determined the wipe out the Partisans once and for all. Surprisingly, Welles plays his role with boundless passion and gusto, and Jurgens departs from his usual role as an anti-Nazi realist German officer; here he is a cold-blooded Nazi officer - he may be his usually cool and restrained, yet occasionally explosive self - but he's still a cold-blooded Nazi.

What's important is that, unlike many epics such as "The Longest Day" and "Is Paris Burning?" every subplot is clear and crucial at all times, and Bulajic manages to keep them every character engaging and recognizable at all times. Despite the scope of the battle scenes, the audience has a personal involvement with them because they feature characters we've come to care about.

These battle scenes are the real stars of the show. They involve thousands of extras, dozens of T-34, Tiger and Sherman tank, German fighter planes, huge explosions and stunt horses which get blown in every direction. Bulajic uses wide shots quite often to show just how massive the combat zone is. Battles take place in green valleys, narrow streets and in the snow-covered mountains, and we can see just hazardous and realistic this scenery is. The Yugoslav landscape has never been so beautifully photographed, and the destruction amidst this beauty is quite sad and often depressing. The final scene, in which several of the main characters are killed (ironically enough, the battle takes place amidst an old cemetery) is epic in scope, with thousands of Chetnik horsemen being gunned down and shelled in a valley, but the personal sacrifice of the partisans is felt at the same time. Bernard Hermann's score is appropriately thunderous at times and also has meaningful, mournful cues. (This music was written exclusively for the edited international versions; the original, equally fantastic Klaus Vladimir Ratjeric score retained on longer prints and used only to aid the dramatic scenes).

This is truly a great epic story, with strong character development interwoven with necessary spectacle. Even on home video in the United States, it's a good movie, and simply improves with each longer cut. "The Battle of Neretva" is simple one of the great lost films of the 20th Century.

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.