La Bataille de la Neretva

It is sad that the most widely distributed version of this Yugoslavian war epic "Bitka na Neretvi" is the 102 minute version edited and dubbed in USA by Commonwealth United Films. This version, known as "The Battle of Neretva" has been shortened by a full hour. It looks a bit like a long trailer, offering samples of what is obviously a big scale, melodramatic giant of a film, like "The Longest Day". At times the re-editing looks like it has been made with an axe, some dialogue being cut from the middle of a sentence.

I have just seen, however, a longer Commonwealth version: 127 minutes, 25 minutes longer. This is a far superior version, professionally edited into a coherent, well flowing narrative. It seems that the 102 minute "stub" has been edited from this. I can only imagine how much deeper the characterization would be with the 40 minutes still missing from the original. The Italian and German versions are longer than this 127 minute version, and they have been released on DVD. Still, for anyone preferring an English translation, this could be the best version around. Sadly it only seems to be available on VHS.

In January 1943 during WWII , Yugoslavian partisans are facing German and Italian troops . German Army afraid of Allied invasion of Balkans, launched great offensive against Yugoslav Partisans in Western Bosnia , as these one battle for freedom . The only way out for Partisan forces and thousands of refugees was the bridge on the river Neretva. The name Neretva, of the film's English title The Battle of the River Neretva or The Battle of the Neretva, is a name of Illyrian origin, and is the largest river of the eastern part of the Adriatic Sea basin and is situated in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia.

Big budget war movie contains thrills , emotion , historical events and impressive battles with a cast of thousands . However , lost continuity with excessive cuts . This movie's massive budget was personally approved by then Yugoslav president Tito. It was the first of the Yugoslav World War II film productions that were sponsored by the Yugoslav Government State and with funds provided by fifty-eight Yugoslave state . Very good main and support cast such as Yul Brynner as Vlado , Hardy Krüger as Col. Kranzer , Franco Nero as Capt. Michele Riva , Sylva Koscina as Danica , Orson Welles as Chetnik Senator , Curd Jürgens as Gen. Lohring ,Anthony Dawson and director Sergey Bondarchuk as Martin . At the time of its production, this was the most expensive film ever made in Eastern Europe ,outside the Soviet Unión . This movie was originally released at 175 minutes but was reduced by its US distributors to only 102 minutes when released in America. Atmospheric cinematography by Tomislav Pinter , though to need a good remastering . Evocative and military musical score by the classic Bernard Herrmann , Hitchcock's usual composer . Great production design and breathtaking outdoors . To shoot a railway bridge being blown-up, the movie's director, Veljko Bulajic wished to do it for real as it would, he believed, act as a tourist attraction after the shoot. A full-scale replica railway bridge was built in Jablanica and blown up but the smoke from the blasting prevented any visible and usable shots. The bridge was then repaired, re-built for a second time, and blown up again with the same result. Finally, to capture the bridge being blown up, a small-scale miniature model was used. The motion picture was regularly directed by Veljko Bulajic, including excessive cuts and some scenes with no sense . It was the most expensive Yugoslav movie ever made and taking sixteen months in production to shoot and complete.

The picture was based on historical deeds , these are the followings : The Battle of the Neretva was a World War II battle launched by the Nazis and running between January and April 1943 in the environs of the River Neretva, Herzegovina, then Nazi German occupied Yugoslavia. The Battle was code-named Fall Weiss and was named after this neighboring Neretva River. The battle was a combined Nazi strategic plan involving Axis Allies Italy, Croatian Ustasha (Croatian Revolutionary Movement) and Chetniks (Serbian Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia) units to wipe out the Yugoslav Partisans from German Nazi occupied Yugoslavia. The battle of Neretva is also known as the Fourth Anti-Partisan Offensive; the Fourth Enemy Offensive, as well as The Battle for the Wounded.

What is so great about this movie is its near matter-of-fact portray of the reality of the war, namely, the bloody defeats and suffering of the partisan army. This honest portray of what really happened in the past history is often taken for granted in movies made in west, but it is extremely rare in the eastern blocks, including the former-Yugoslavia, that is until this movie was made.

The movie was based on the historical facts of German attack on the Yugoslavian Communist bases, including inflicting great casualties on the partisan army, and in addition, the logistic parts of the partisan army, such as the central hospital, and heavy equipment, such as artillery and vehicles, were completely lost. However, German failed their original objective of eliminating the partisan army once for all in one decisive blow, despite the fact wiping out every partisan base and inflicting significant casualties on partisans:

Tito narrowly escaped the German spear head of the assault, and successfully planned and lead the remaining forces to break out, opening new fronts in Bosnia after escaping, and eventually establishing a new base there. For this reason, this battle was considered a victory by partisans because they escaped the total annihilation, and with the tiny surviving force, they eventually recovered and fight to their final victory.

This movie is an relatively accurate portrait of the extremely difficult breaking out attempts and the eventual success of the partisan army, a technical defeat but a strategic victory. In comparison to other war flicks made in communist countries, such as that of former-USSR, Romania, Vietnam, and North Korea, this movie presented the facts that most communist regime would rather not want to talk about: the heavy casualties of communist army and its cause: the inabilities of the commanders to make the best decision at the right moment at the place.

In the war flicks made in the other communist countries listed above, the heroes never dies, and their commanders never makes mistakes, and the enemy was always stupid and incapable. This movie honestly admits that the enemy is not only better equipped, but is equally capable if not better Tito's commanders. The German war fighting capabilities were given proper credit.

In this sense, this movie is the Yugoslavian equivalent of The Longest Day, made in USA, in which Germans were treated as they were -- human beings and professional soldiers who did their job despite the failure of their high command. Although there are still obvious one-sided scenes due to obvious political reasons, such as the world is bleeding when a partisan was killed, the movie is far better than any others made in the communist countries and for its honest description of the history, it deserves a perfect ten.

"The Battle of Neretva" is an often confusing, badly edited mess… on American home video, that is. I've seen multiple versions of this film, and combined, they make one fine epic. Unfortunately, it has yet to be released in its entirety domestically on video or DVD, so it's hard for me to piece together a review of 3 entirely different movies.

In 1943, Hitler orders the final destruction of the Yugoslav Partisans. The Partisans begin a trek northward to the relative safety of the Bosnian Mountains – their goal is to cross the treacherous Neretva gorge over one remaining bridge. Along the way, they battle German tanks, Italian infantry, Chetnik Cavalry, strafing airplanes, disease and natural elements.

Yugoslav director Bulajic is telling his story from all points of view, but his sympathies lie with the Partisans. The film has pro-Communist leanings, and tells several interwoven stories stressing the importance of comradeship in wartime. There are many important characters: Yul Brynner ("Morituri") is crack demolition expert Vlado; Sergei Bondarchuk (director of "Waterloo") is short-tempered artillery officer Martin; Franco Nero ("The Mercenary") is an Italian Captain with no faith in Fascism; Hardy Kruger ("A Bridge too Far") is Colonel Kranzer, who fights with dedication which begins to dwindle as he realizes the bitter reality that the partisans are a formidable enemy; Ljubisa Samardzic ("Battle of the Eagles") and Sylva Koscina ("Hornets' Nest") are brother-and-sister, and Koscina is to marry Ivan (Lojze Rozman) after the war; the list goes on and on, and although every character is significant, it's impossible to list them all. There's an interesting twist, too: the legendary Orson Welles plays a Chetnik Senator who battles for concessions with General Lohring (the great Curd Jurgens), a committed Nazi officer who is determined the wipe out the Partisans once and for all. Surprisingly, Welles plays his role with boundless passion and gusto, and Jurgens departs from his usual role as an anti-Nazi realist German officer; here he is a cold-blooded Nazi officer - he may be his usually cool and restrained, yet occasionally explosive self - but he's still a cold-blooded Nazi.

What's important is that, unlike many epics such as "The Longest Day" and "Is Paris Burning?" every subplot is clear and crucial at all times, and Bulajic manages to keep them every character engaging and recognizable at all times. Despite the scope of the battle scenes, the audience has a personal involvement with them because they feature characters we've come to care about.

These battle scenes are the real stars of the show. They involve thousands of extras, dozens of T-34, Tiger and Sherman tank, German fighter planes, huge explosions and stunt horses which get blown in every direction. Bulajic uses wide shots quite often to show just how massive the combat zone is. Battles take place in green valleys, narrow streets and in the snow-covered mountains, and we can see just hazardous and realistic this scenery is. The Yugoslav landscape has never been so beautifully photographed, and the destruction amidst this beauty is quite sad and often depressing. The final scene, in which several of the main characters are killed (ironically enough, the battle takes place amidst an old cemetery) is epic in scope, with thousands of Chetnik horsemen being gunned down and shelled in a valley, but the personal sacrifice of the partisans is felt at the same time. Bernard Hermann's score is appropriately thunderous at times and also has meaningful, mournful cues. (This music was written exclusively for the edited international versions; the original, equally fantastic Klaus Vladimir Ratjeric score retained on longer prints and used only to aid the dramatic scenes).

This is truly a great epic story, with strong character development interwoven with necessary spectacle. Even on home video in the United States, it's a good movie, and simply improves with each longer cut. "The Battle of Neretva" is simple one of the great lost films of the 20th Century.

I have seen most of the Yugoslav Partisan movies and I find "Bitka an Neretvi" in all aspects the best one. I wont describe the movie itself, you must see it yourself, and it is worth it. However, I would like to update some potential "non-Yugoslav" viewers about some important facts about that movie. The movie was made in 1969, in that period Yugoslav socialist/communist (as you like it)regime was running the most open-minded and "liberal" politics in his whole history. At that time some critics about regimes most outstanding icons were possible. The Partisan movement in WWII was one of them. A figure of a "Partisan" was in official ideological interpretation considered as a natural born patriot, ready to sacrifice, fully political aw eared, in two words: A man of steal, almost a mythical figure only possible to be compared with an ancient hero. In "Bitka Na Neretvi" we are faced with quiet another partisan hero. It is still a hero, but the one who knows the fear. One scene is thus so fascinating when you see partisans running off the battle line, screaming: "They are gonna kill us all!" Another scene shows elements of Partisan cruelty in discussion what to do with wounded comrades, one commandant says:"Whats more important, the fate of the revolution or the fate of our wounded comrades?" That kind of scenes would have been in pure propaganda movie impossible, as well as in John Wayne type of war movie. Other details are also very interesting. You would hard to notice the word of communism or communists, completely different as another movie "Bitka Na Sutjesci". The main hero is thus The People itself. Josip Broz Tito is only present in a short military order. Worth of notification is also the representation of the enemies. Germans are of course evil, but described as noble opponents. Italians are sometimes shown almost even more humanly than partisans, with moral doubt (Two Italian defectors even join partisans). The worst characters are collaborationist: Chetniks and Ustashas, shown as cold-blooded murderers.