Quando Papai Saiu em Viagem de Negócios

If you are familiar with Emir Kusturica's work, chances are you probably saw "Underground" or "Times of the Gypsies," or perhaps "Black Cat, White Cat." I guess this earlier film is a bit harder to get into because it is less eccentric than the usual Kusturica fair, and it focuses on a specific point of Yugoslav history, namely the time immediately following the break-up between Tito and Stalin. The film itself is very good, but it would certainly help your perception if you were familiar with historical aspect of it all. Some similarities can be drawn to "Tito i ja" because "Otac.." is seen through a child's point of view, but then it was made something like ten years prior to "Tito i ja," so I guess you should disregard that statement altogether. The film is a drama from start to finish, and like other Kusturica's films, it requires much of emotional involvement as well as some patience. But I definitely like it, although it's not for everyone. I still recommend it, though.

I simply can't believe there are so few viewer comments for this movie, that won the PALME D'OR in Cannes in 1985! By the way, it represented Yugoslavia, a country wich no longer exists...It was much of a surprise back then, as Kusturica was totally unknown, and the movie was entirely produced at home with no financial contribution from abroad. No doubt, this is in the top 3 of best Yugoslavian films, if not he best one ever.

This film is a historical, not only because it deals with a specific historical context, but most of all, because it was all done in SARAJEVO a mere six years before the outbreak of war, at a time when nobody suspected how things would eventually turn out. Note that the movie shows a place where Muslims, Christians and Jews coexist in peace, and this is quite a symbol today when you watch it knowing what came next. It is highly probable that some of the crew died during the Yugoslav conflict, which took place around that same city and cost 300,000 lives.

The lead role by little Moreno de Bartolli is certainly one of the most amazing child performances on screen ever. Otherwise, two of the actors appeared in famous films after that. Miki Manojlovic who plays the father, is a Kusturica regular, and has become famous internationally; the late Davor Dujmovic who plays the elder brother plays also the lead role as Perhan in "Time of the Gypsies". Generally speaking, all the acting here is first class.

Also, it isn't so often that the world of adults is shown through the eyes of a child, and when it's done, it is often in a twee or awkward manner. Not at all here. Besides, Kusturica's first work has a very honest and sensitive approach of themes like fatherhood, adultery and betrayal. It 's all lightyears away from the frenzy found in the artist's later work.

Warning : this movie is highly emotional. When I saw it again recently after a long time, I'm not ashamed to say I wept twice, and I'm not a single case. Yet, it is often very funny as well. Note that, unlike many European movies, it ends rather well and on a hopeful note. If you like tragi-comical movies like "the Bicycle Thief", no doubt you will love this too.

The very light sexual allusions and nudity caused an R rating in America. Quite a pity, as this work is far more decent than most releases, and would be a lot more interesting and appealing for young audiences than the idiotic stuff they are used to watch. I would even consider showing this in schools.

Definitely a 10 out of 10, as far as I'm concerned.

I saw this film one month ago for the first time and I've been really impressed! After having seen the film, I decided to go to Croatia, because I wanted to see what Communism created in ex-Yugoslavia. This film made me curious about history and people of Ex-Yugoslavia. It has been really a lesson for me; everybody should see this movie.

Winner of the award for Best Film at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Film, Emir Kusturica's When Father Was Away on Business is a blend of comedy, family drama, and political realism that is courageous, funny, and deeply moving. The title of the film refers to the lie told to a six-year-old to cover up the fact that his father was serving time in a labor camp for making a thoughtless remark that offended the Communist apparatchiks. Set in Yugoslavia in 1950 after the break between Stalin and Tito, it was a time of confusion when people worshiped Stalin one week and despised him the next. The story is told from the perspective of six-year-old Malik (Moreno D'E Bartolli) and his performance is natural and convincing.

His father Mesa (Miki Manojlovic) is a low-level bureaucrat who spends more time womanizing and drinking than attending to his job. A casual remark filled with sarcasm about a political cartoon made to his wife Sena's (Mirjana Karanovic) sister-in-law Ankica (Mira Furlan), leads to his arrest and detention by Zijo (Mustafa Nadarevic), a Communist Party official who also happens to be his wife's brother. Mesa is sent to work in the mines while Sena becomes a seamstress to make ends meet and his sensitive son starts sleepwalking, perhaps a wry metaphor for the status of the people under Marshal Tito.

The family does reunite when Mesa is sent to a remote settlement for further re-socialization but he does not change his ways and visits prostitutes with the party official in charge of his rehabilitation, using Malik as his escort. In a sub-plot, Malik (who looks and acts more like ten or eleven than six) "falls in love" with a girl about his age who is suffering from a serious blood disorder and their inevitable separation is quite touching. Though family relations are strained, especially between Sena, Zijo, and Ankica, the family is very strong and we know that somehow they will endure. When Father Was Away on Business is perhaps the least daring cinematic ally of all of Kusturica's works but it is one of the most heartfelt and gained the director his first international success, paving the way for the full maturation of his vision in the brilliant and disturbing Underground.

I saw this movie in 1990 at a local university campus cinema, found it lovely and painful at the same time. My viewing time was the time of a new beginning to the former Eastern Bloc. Now most of its communist 'allied' are seeking seats with EU or NATO. Later in the same year, I paid a visit to Croatia, what a stunning experience. The natural beauty and the Roman remains are the most impressive. From Monarchy to Communist and to Capitalist, all happened within 100 years, the people of that region have undergone a century's bloody tragedies. Yugoslavia is now a word of past tense, it was divided into several countries, some enjoy peace and some are perpetually in war since the downfall of the bloc in early nineties.

Amongst all the countries there, Yugoslavia somehow enjoyed more liberty and material comfort (some from Italy and Greece) than the others because Tito decisively broke the connection from Stalin. From what I got from the mouths of the Yugoslavians (in 1990), they all respected Tito's determination and boldness.

Malik's womanizer father (Miki Manojlovic) was set up by a woman relative, attractive Ankica (Mira Furlan) after he successfully seduced and then refused her. He was sent to do hard and laborious work far away from home. Little Malik (Moreno D'E Bartolli) wonders why daddy cannot come home often, though his mom keeps telling him that father is on business, he can smell a rat there. Later, when father comes back, he has his retribution on that woman.

The Zolj family is of Jewish origin. The circumcision scene and the later bath of the boy are absolutely comical. Though in difficult time, the innocence of children is expressed in great lovely details, Malik's interest in other sex, his father's predicament… The filming location was Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, a place where the Jews and Muslims were killing each other. Kosovo is another long-stay pain. The body and soul of this region will take a long long time to restore. Just wondering what had happened to Moreno D'E Bartolli after all these years, he should have turned 29 this year.

Emir Kusturica is one of the many shining gems in Central and Eastern Europe film industry, who are waiting for the world's more exploration and attention.

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Thanks go to IMDb-ian rijecka_sirena (USA) for the rectifications (dd 30 August 2006) on my commentary (dd 22 April 2004) for the following:

1. The Zolj is a Bosnian Muslim family so there is a circumcision.

2. The neighbor is Bosnian Serbian family.

3. Ankica is Bosnian Croatian (mostly Roman Catholics).

(Acknowledged on 1 January 2007)