Sretno dijete

This is my first comment on a movie and this movie's first comment. In this rockumentary we see Igor Mirkovic, actually a political journalist, documenting the new wave of rock/punk music in ex-Yugoslavia which took place at the end of the 70's and the beginning of the 80's. This revolution had great significance in Croatia and the rest of Yugoslav countries as perhaps the appearance of The Beatles or The Rolling Stones in the UK. This movie probably won't be of any interest to you if you haven't heard some of the bands this movie is all about (Azra, Film, Prljavo Kazaliste, Haustor...). Mirkovic interviews his teenage idols and describes how they influenced his generation while adding archive footage from concerts and historical events. Sretno dijete (The Happy Child) is actually a title of a Prljavo Kazaliste's song. The DVD has some bonus material in the shape of interviews, discarded scenes and music videos from Azra, Haustor, Prljavo Kazaliste, Elektricni Orgazam and Idoli. A must see!...

Yugoslavia does not exist anymore. But the music from the partly repressed, partly happy times (late 70's and early 80's) still exists, and time has been very kind to it. And the people who made that music are now older, one foot in present, another in the past, some wiser, some changed. They are now scattered all over the world. This movie brings most of them back together, and realizes that the crucial piece of puzzle is now damaged, a ghost, but life, imperfect, goes on. It also brings back the feel of Zagreb (ahh, that attitude!), and to some extent Belgrade (ohh, more attitude!), of those times, their culture, dialects, language, teenage angst (Communist repressions vs. punk and alternative), a bit of an isolated, naive, even arrogant idealism, and a lot of self-confidence and passion to change the world for the better.

It is a wonderful trip back. Everyone in ex-Yu lands should watch it. It brings back the state of mind that most people had in early 80's -- the one just preceding the late 80's disbelief and denial that the advertised civil war could ever, ever really happen.