Balkanski spijun

One of the most popular ex. Yugoslavian movies in the Croatia. Exellent description of our past political system in a very funny way. Greeting to all admirers of this movie.

As one of the most significant films in the Serbian and Yugoslavian cinematography ever, "Balkanski spijun" is most often regarded as a comedy, which it is only to a certain extent.

The film works on many different levels and it's virtually impossible to judge it after seeing it only once. Serving primarily as a social commentary and a metaphor for a national paranoia towards anything foreign, the film uses its main character Ilija Cvorovic as a vehicle to carry out both humorous and serious situations towards a bitter and somewhat prophetic ending. The great Bata Stojkovic (in one of his best roles here) has masterfully crafted a portrait of a man whose delusions progressively lead him from a state of comical confusion to a tragic crescendo of violence laden with conspiracy theories.

"Balkanski spijun" is a comedy that will make you think before you laugh and a tragedy that will make you laugh before you think.

This Dusan Kovacevic' drama talks about political paranoia of Ilija Cvorovic, ex-Stallinist, the man who spent two years in prison because of his activity. He follows and haunts a tenant in his house - who returned from France. Ilija sees in him agent of imperialist powers, enemy of the state and a foreign spy. The movie is true piece-of-art of Yugoslav cinematography of the 80's. Also talks about relations of hard-line communists and capitalists in liberal-socialist Yugoslavia.

The movie Balkan Spy (Balkanski spijun) was released in 1984. and to me it is the best movie wrote by Dusan Kovacevic, and the competition is great ("Ko to tamo peva", "Maratonci trce pocasni krug", "Sabirni Centar" are a few of his other films). I will not go so far in saying that this is the best comedy of all time but certainly it is the best tragicomedy full of black-humor. One of the main characters Jakovljevic (Bora Todorovic) moves into the house of Ilija (Bata Stojkovic) after a long time working in France. Ilija gets a call from the police and has a talk with a inspector about Jakovljevic. From that moment Ilija is convinced that Jakovljevic is a spy working for "them". The cast is made from some of the best Serbian actors of all time: Danilo 'Bata' Stojkovic, Bora Todorovic, Mira Banjac, Sonja Savic, Bata Zivojinovic, Mica Tomic and Croatian legend Zvonko Lepetic as Djuro Cvorovic. It has awesome dialogue, great characters, and the cast is superb.

10/10

Just legendary. You gotta watch it!

Film adaptation of a great Dusan Kovacevic's novel - equally good. Recognizable a la Kovacevic humor, full of absurdness, self-irony, sharp and spiritual. Great critic of a dead ideology and authoritarian character translated into a black-humor paranoia of a small man - ideology slave. Brilliant, unforgettable Bata Stojkovic's acting gave this feature strength and rare authentic movie-expression.