Kako je poceo rat na mom otoku

Excellent! Having personally lived through those times in the then Yugoslavia and later Croatia, I can only marvel at how well the filmmakers 'got' the spirit of the time, the emotions of the people and the opposing army, their ideological divide, the propaganda, etc. To have packaged all the above in a delightful dark comedy was fabulous! The characters are so well depicted that I can almost 'see' real life characters in them. The only small drawback was the melodramatic ending (basically the last scene), which I feel was unnecessary. This is the only reason I did not give this wonderful piece of cinematography an even higher grade.

I saw "Kako je poceo rat na mom otoku" (called "How the War Started on My Island" in English) at the 1999 Portland International Film Festival. This movie does the unthinkable: it tells a funny story relating to Yugoslavia's dissolution. And it does a good job. Based partly on a true story, it focuses on a bunch of people besieging a military installation on a Dalmatian island, demanding that Yugoslavia's army leave. Much of what happens seems to be there for comic relief, such as when a soldier shows how he had sex with a woman. But overall, it's a really good, really funny movie. And we can still say that, even knowing what ended up happening after Yugoslavia dissolved.

Good movie. Lots of good jokes, probably not so funny for someone outside Central Europe. All in all, one of the best products of Croatian cinema in recent years.

Considering this is a film about the Yugoslav wars, particularly the Croatian war for Independence, made in a Balkan nation shortly after the war, I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting a typical war film, focusing on demonizing the "other side" (Serbs, Bosniaks) and rewriting the history books like "Undeground" or "Pretty Village, Pretty Flame". But instead the film does not vilify anyone nor create a victim complex. The film is focused on a group of Yugoslav soldiers who plan to join the effort of fighting for the country's (Croatia) Independence, defecting from the Yugoslav army. Other Croats seem to view it their duty to uphold Yugoslav unity and stay. Without spoiling anything, the viewpoints of both pro-Independence Croats and pro-Yugoslavia Croats is given a humane view. Betray your fellow soldiers or your fellow people? The film is neither anti nor pro Yugoslavia. Truly a breath of fresh air in terms of a war film. Carnage is into the focus, but the complicated life decisions each character is making as the war unravels.

This film is trying to give a look on the Croatian war of independence from what was then Yugoslavia a look with humor. Although at that time there was no humor in it at all. For us who stayed alive to write these lines, I can vouch to you that it was pure hell which materialized on Earth in the period of 1991-1995.

Plot is base on a true story on the island of Vis, which harbored substantial Yugoslav Navy base which became unwelcome on the island overnight as Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia. Time was September of 1991.

I would like to tell you that I laughed with the film, but because I remember so well horrors of the war I could not laugh. I will leave that to you.