Kad budem mrtav i beo

Kad budem mrtav i beo is one of the best movies made by great Serbian/Yugoslav director Zivojin Pavlovic, one of the best European directors in second half of the 1960s. His mighty naturalistic approach in films like Povratak, Neprijatelj, Budjenje pacova and Zaseda here achieves a peak through episodic, picaresque story of young would to be singer Dzimi Barka, anarchic individual without specific goal, except not to work (and likes to have sex with any woman whom meet on his ramblings, if she's barely attractive). Film also contains irony approach to Yugoslav partisan mythology, JNA (Yugoslav National Army), work class - all the holy objects, untouchable sacred things of Yugoslav socialistic society. Artisticly and politicly very brave movie, Kad budem mrtav i beo is terrific blend of comedy, drama and, finally, absurd tragedy.

Janko Bugarski "Džimi Barka" is a small time wallet snatcher, and an aspiring singer, who wants to make it big with as little effort as he can, traveling through industrial areas and looking for affairs with local women and easy money. On one of his travels he meets a young girl he takes to Belgrade to accompany him on an amateur singing contest, where he fails miserably, since he can't follow a tune, and abandoning her, teams up with his former girlfriend, also a pickpocket, which takes him to his final journey.

This film by the famous Yugoslav director, Zivojin Pavlovic, was originally banned by the communist authorities upon it's release in 1967, because it portrayed a realistic picture of the Yugoslav "60's economic boom", which consisted of massive industrialization of rural areas, building huge numbers of, as one of the characters in the movie puts it "political factories", which were set up without any economic logic, and on massive foreign debt, that was generously spent without any restrain. It also shows bottom of morality in different social categories, which also wasn't considered "appropriate" at the time. When it was re-released in 1990, it achieved a cult status that it has today.

Zika Pavlovic was,probably, first ex-Yugoslavian director who didn't make a stupid movies about Tito's partisans and their fight against Nazis.His movies was about a modern life in ex-Yugoslavia and problems of "our fellow Yugoslavians". "Kad budem mrtav i beo" ("When I die",on English) is a story about Dzimi ( it reads: "Jimmy")Barka,young, handsome,charismatic,but pretty unsuccessful singer from a small town in central Serbia.Dzimi wants to go in Belgrade and become a famous star of pop music,but...this story has a tragic end,like every Balcan story,anyway. Role of Dzimi Barka was a first big job for Dragan Nikolic,one of the best ex-Yugoslavian actors.This role became some kind of his trade mark. Pavlovic was a genious artist and just a few ex-Yugoslavian directors can make such a good story about people from yugoslavian province. This movie is a masterpiece of ex-Yugoslavian film making!

New wave in Yugoslav style, one of the best YU movies ever made. Dzimi Barka is a handsome but quite untalented wannabe singer who is unemployed and wants to survive without working anything in times of economical crisis with stealing and cheating. He travels around Serbia, looks for success and meets women who are for him just objects to use for a certain purpose - sex, money or maybe career - and then to dispose. He does so until the sorry undignified end at the same place where he wanted to escape from. This is a movie about unperspective life of the working class in mud and greyness, between factories and villages .

A gem of Yugoslav/Serbian cinematography! The movie represents an interesting stream in cinema history that is called ''Yugoslavian black wave'', which portrays life in a newly formed socialistic republic of Yugoslavia. Comprised of six republics and a yet a few cities, it is a dominantly rural environment. Young people become developing ambitions and dreams like their fellow young people in Western Europe and the US, all the while struggling with the repressive regime and all the nonsense that comes with it. Dragan Nikolic, one of Serbia's most beloved actors fantastically plays a young attractive man who has no limits when it comes for wanting to live a better life! Plus, an interesting thing for cinema lovers! There were to main movie waves in Yugoslavia - ''black wave'' and ''red wave'', the black wave shows the struggles of living in a freshly formed communist country from the perspective of ordinary people, while the ''red wave'' shows exactly the opposite - brave Partizans who fought Germans. Highly recommend both waves if you're interested in discovering the unique mentality of Serbian people.