Nema aviona za Zagreb

Filmed in black and white and colour between 1964 and 1969 this is a film by Dutch filmmaker Louis van Gasteren (Jr.) ,which is a mixture of documentary and dramatised footage - a kind of film diary of his travels,thoughts memories,feelings,philosophy,aesthetics and family life,which came to an abrupt halt for a reason revealed at the end of the film. He travels to Spain,to Belgrade,not to Zagreb on Sunday - hence the film's title,to San Francisco,to London,to Dorking,to Vancouver (or Vancuvver) and to India, and meets people like 'LSD guru' Timothy Leary (LSD apparently saved van Gasteren's life), Meher Baba,Marshall Mcluhan(in a lift), composer Mal Waldron,and even Nicholas Parsons(who wants a divorce). And then comes The Turtle. The director only 'had the courage' to complete his film in 2012 at the age of 90,and it reveals a man always wanting to show 'the other angle' ,not the conventional one - so we have breakers yard cars being displayed as sculptures in Vondel Park,the Dutch film with the Yugoslavian title,and a rumination on communication,perspective and art.

Nema takes the best of the counterculture movement of 1964-1969 and separates it from the worst.

By best I mean the open-mindedness, the questioning of old values and conditioning, and the artistic and intellectual freedom it created. By the worst I mean the sex and drugs for which it is mostly known. He paints the 'hippy movement' as a relatively sour note in the much larger intellectual and creative mind-awakening that was happening.

Up to now, I think no one has known how to paint the movement, or make sense of it, and sadly its good has been associated with what was its worst elements -- to a great disservice to humanity.

Van Gasteren also manages to put Meher Baba in the heart and center of it (literally center of it in the film) and it raises the entire film to a higher plane.

I think this film may play an important historical role, no matter how long it takes for the world to discover it in retrospect.