Parada

Having won several festival awards, among others the audience award at Berlin International Film Festival, "The Parade" (2011) is the sixth feature film by Serbian writer- director Srdjan Dragojevic. It's a well-working blend of drama and hilarious comedy.

//Mårten Larsson. Facebook page: 7thArtShortReviews (@7thArtShortRevs).

I think it is really a great movie. I watched it with my girlfriend in the theater and we were both pretty excited and under great impressions even the day after. The story had a nice, smooth humorous way to steel into the auditions collective consciousness and to make them all laugh out loud. Despite the funny dialogues and the scenes, the story has a deep metaphor which is quite serious and initiates you to think about. The movie characters are each of them from a different ex-Yugoslav republic. Mostly of them were in war against each other, but built friendships after the wars were over (despite the nationalism, opposite politics and ethnic diversity - they united to fight together). Now they built a team to fight for the gays (which represent metaphorically the emotional and peaceful character in humans) in their gay parade in Belgrade which should be organized in close future. Everybody is against them, skinheads are sharpening their knives, while preparing for the final fight (they are representing the brutal, aggressive nature in human). The fight for peace and freedom begins, bringing some adrenalin and rage to audition to fight back against the distorted society.

'Parada' was the most popular film in the Berlin Festival this year, bagging both audience awards yet not the LGBT 'Teddy Award'. That illustrates both its strength and weakness as a film: intended to induce a positive image about homosexuals in a non-gay audience, it does an admirable job in combining drama and comedy, tears and laughs. Yet at the same time, the gay characters are so terribly cliché that, in a different setting, they could be also used to narrate a viciously homophobic story.

That this is not the case is due to the scriptwriting talents of Srdan Dragojevic, who makes every single character, gay or not, a walking cliché of ex-Yugoslavia. The ex-militia gangster, tattooed all over with battle reminders around bullet wounds, resorting to protecting a gay pride march at the behest of his 'slut-with-a-golden-heart' fiancée, is about as credible as the effeminate wedding planner insisting on organizing the pride in spite of organized acts of violence by a group of nationalist skinheads lead by, as it turns out, the gangster's son. Add to this the soft-hearted vet who saves his dog and turns out to be the wedding planner's partner, with whom the gangster embarks on a journey through ex-Yugoslavia to enlist the help of other ex-soldiers, who, for reasons not sufficiently explained, became his friends while being his enemies at the same time... the plot is indeed as convoluted and incredible as this summary sounds like.

Yet Dragojevic's writing constantly adds jokes and situational comedy, he reveals himself here to be indeed the creator of the beloved classic 'We are no Angels'. The eclectic mix between comedy and drama makes this pretty much a must-see, as does the tremendous success 'Parada' enjoyed at home and in its festival run. Just don't expect any real portrayal of gay life in the Balkans; having been born in Romania, I fully understand that for a homosexual in Belgrade, this film must come rather as an offense than a relief. Yet as one cannot explain quantum theory in primary school, the clichés in this film are probably a necessary evil: you have to work with what people already (believe to) know in order to educate them and change their attitude. If this film succeeds in making cliché gays more acceptable in the mainstream, then maybe this will color off into a broader acceptance of the fact that the public knows very little about homosexuality and therefore has no reason to feel threatened by it; in that case 'Parada' would have done its job of opening minds, aside of being a pretty entertaining experience.

This in one of the best movies I've seen recently. It gives a great picture of today's society on the Balkans - a closed-minded, racist community where often people can't express their opinions freely without getting their asses kicked. It's not just the gay thing, there's plenty more in this film. It sends a warm message to all the countries from ex-yu. One of the thing not shown here, but implied, is the other thing I was talking about - it's hard to express your political and even national opinions - if you're a Croat, you're automatically against Serbs, and if you're a Croat in Serbia, boy you're screwed. And vice versa. People are just lining up to kick Serbs in Croatia, I know by what I've seen. Also, expressing a left oriented political opinion makes you a communist - also ass kicking material and other closed minded things. Homophobic problem presented in this movie is merely one tenth of the people's persistent stupidity problems here on Balkans. A good friend of mine is a lesbian, and she wasn't discriminated as much as people in this movie, but she helped me change my opinions. I think we all need that one interaction with the people of LGBT community to see that they're not fags, gays, lesbians, dikes etc. To see that they are just normal people living normal lives, just like you and me. We often don't see that unless we meet someone who's actually gay. This movie breaks the walls of prejudices and helps people see that there's nothing wrong with being gay. It's a very refreshing movie on the Balkan scene, and it will make you laugh your ass out, and burst to tears in the end. It's full of comic situations, especially Lemon's homophobic jokes, and I love that you can really see the transformation of his opinions, in such episodes as Ben Hur's, and you can see how it should be in all of us. The acting is great, the message is great, the humor is great, except one thing - Serbian movies actually have even more raw humor, and I find this humor very gentle compared to some movies I've seen. But still, 10/10 and a must watch!

I think that movie is very helpful, because it deals with all "Serbian problems" with humor. It's emotionally heavy and deep story, but also very comical - which is the only way, in my opinion, that can change someone's beliefs, or at least, make people think about the situation around here. Movie as a movie is very good and interesting, and it awakes emotions of happiness and sadness. Plot is, in the least, hilarious. It is about very serious topics and issues, which we, as a people, created on our own. Prejudice that we create, everyone of us, whether we are Serbs, gay, straight, Albanians, Croats, Bosnians or someone else . Maybe one of the best movies of Srdjan Dragojevic.