Ljeto u zlatnoj dolini

"Ljeto u zlatnoj dolini" or 'Summer in the Golden Valley' as it is called in English is a very dark and grim movie. It certainly isn't a feel-good movie, but the story that it tells feels very authentic and realistic.

It's about a teenage boy Fikret, who lives in post-war Sarajevo, where drugs, crime and corruption are the most important parts of life. He sniffs glue to escape from reality and all he really wants is to step on one of the airplanes that fly over the city, so he can fly away to a better world. His family has a hard time making a living and his father has just died. A man comes to the funeral and says that the father owed him a lot of money and that he wants it back. Because they don't have any money, the son will have to do some crimes... Than a corrupt cop asks him to help with the kidnapping of a girl, the daughter of some very rich people. If he and a friend hide the girl and take care of her, they will receive a lot of money. At first all they want is the money, but gradually Fikret falls in love with her...

As I already said, this story will not really make you feel good, but that certainly doesn't mean this isn't a good movie. OK, it isn't really a masterpiece, but the actors did a fine job, the story is very good and believable and the way everything was shot is more than just OK. This movie is really something for you when you are interested in very realistic and far from corny dramas. Also when you are interested in how life in the Balkan now is, this may be the movie for you to watch. Personally I liked what I saw and I give it a 7.5/10

This movie shows real experience of post war city and country. It not only shows problems and irony typical to such city, but also some generic problems in life. Poverty, hope, love, trust and betrayal, faith, effort... It has really all in one. Also funny and cool action of police and mafia. Filthy language which is funny and real for such place in real life too. Hot girls, good actors, good smaller typical things of the society who lives at the bottom (in poverty and problems). I am amazed, touched by emotions, and easily recognize all such lifestyles even today, in same place, and this is funny and sad at the same time. No fake stuff.

I saw this film at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. It's the first feature film of director Srdjan Vuletic. Vuletic, who was present at the screening, described the film as an ode to the city he loves: Sarajevo. The film's main character is young glue-sniffing Fikret. It's cynical to see that even in a world ruled by post-war chaos 'decadent' western influences are everywhere. Fikret dresses the way the gangster rappers dress in American rap videos shown on MTV. When Fikret's father dies a man appears at the funeral announcing that the father owes him a large sum of money. Muslim honor demands it should be paid before Fikret's father soul can rest in peace. After a unsuccessful attempt to rob an all-night supermarket Fikret's is contacted by a corrupt cop, who also happens to be the father of a girl he fancies. The cop has kidnapped a rich man's daughter and is using Fikret to hide her. In return he will help Fikret to pay off his debt. From here on the film shifts from an social-realistic drama to an exciting thriller against the background of the intense poverty of war-battered Sarajevo. Strangely enough this is not a depressing movie. At times it's quite funny and towards the end if offers some glimpses of hope. The fact that such an powerful and convincing story can be filmed with a great cast of local talents is certainly hopeful. I think we are gonna hear a lot more of director Vuletic.

The movie is a poor attempt to place the chaos, anarchy and hopelessness that perhaps is a day-life in Belgrade into the streets of Sarajevo. True Bosnians (of all religions!) are people with unprecedented moral, faith sense of humor and optimism that helped them survive the years of siege and continuous murders by Serbian destructor from the surrounding mountains. Don't get fooled, this movie does NOT reflect the Bosnian reality! In my view this is a nicely packed, well hidden cuckoo's egg from the pro-Serbian propaganda. What a waste of time and money, considering the limited number of Bosnian movies produced annually. If you want true picture of post-war Bosnia, watch Well Tempered Corpses. But I challenge the film artist's courage to tell the true stories of people's tragedy and suffering during the years of aggression. Use historic facts, such as genocide in Srebrenica, concentration camps in Dretelj, Omarska, to name a few, as a base for your stories, not some imaginary and besides utterly wrong scenarios that fit with the perceived state of despair in a post-war society.

This movie is brilliant.I've never watched a movie which has so much black humour.The story and the behavior of each character in this movie is realistic.I know it, I live'd there.Now i come to the story:

Fikret Varupa would be a totally ordinary sixteen year old boy from Sarajevo had it not been for an incredible stroke of bad luck. At the traditional Muslim funeral service for his father, he learns that his father owes money to Hamid, a man he does not even know. The debt is considerable and Hamid does not want it to go to the grave with the body, so the debt automatically passes from the father to the son. Since in Bosnia this way of collecting debts, at a funeral, is considered to be utterly humiliating, it is never, ever applied. Fikret and his entire family become subjects of ridicule. Fikret, who is practically still a child, is decisive to "redeem his father's soul". Wishing to repay his father's debt and to secure the forgiveness, Fikret wanders into the real world of Sarajevo, the world that is ruled by post-war chaos, misery and poverty and becomes an ideal target for two corrupted policemen who wish to "help" him: they plant the kidnapped girl on him.

This movie everybody have to watch.I love it