Karaula

Not many movies made such a good use of stereotypes and urban myths of former Yugoslav Army. Two older guys in the story, Ljuba and Sinisa, are smarter than the rest of the lot, supposedly 19-years old conscripts (one is educated, the other is street-smart sociopath). Ubiquitous sound of so called folk music and appalling rudeness in communication are also contributing to making this movie the closest thing to actually being there. And strangely enough, not hating it.

It is a bit unfortunate that Grlic, with his incredible sense for funny and bizarre, hadn't had a chance to make more films in the past.

Still, this one almost makes up for years of his absence from the scene.

This film is about a lieutenant lying about an imminent Albanian attack in order to cover up his syphilis infection.

I am quite impressed by the portrayal of the army, the tough and physical side are mixed with a humorous and prank loving side. The beginning of the film is quite funny, but in the middle it turns into a drama and in the end it becomes tragedy. The story is sad and moving, but I somehow feel it lacks the substance to grip viewers. Maybe it is because I was secretly wanting an Albanian attack, the ironic fulfilment of a made up joke. This film is an interesting watch, but it is unfortunately not a masterpiece as I expected it to be.

... if you want to take a break from Hollywood clichés and enjoy the real treat of European, ex -Yu cinema, the film "Karaula" is just that. A top cast from Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia ... teamed up to make this hit full of humor but it also gives an insight into what will follow in these region in 1990- .... (and how it was to serve 12months in army)...Highly recommended

I just watched this film. The story itself was explained in the others comments, so i wont focus on that. Let me just begin somewhere else. For starters, the lead actors are very beautiful, lots of sex scenes. The main actor reminds a bit on Tom Cruise from Top gun, and the lead actress a bit to Paz Vega. I predict those two, will star in Hollywood films very soon. It would probably be rated NC-17 in USA, or at least a very hard R. Especially because of the pubic hairs, lots of graphic sex scenes, penis shown etc, hard swearings...The story is good, nice and funny dialogs, great swearings. I have watched this movie on DVD, and just for the fun of it i watched it with English subtitles on, and i must say they were beautifully done. I laughed a lot there. I bet the Americans are not use to that kinda talk... Of course some of the swearing cant really be translated into English. Lets face it, we use some of the most juicy swearings in the whole world (probably). I watched the movie in the dark, lights off, and sound almost to the max. Cinematography was beautiful, DD.5.1 worked perfectly, maybe only a corny Hollywood ending would made me feel better, but if i think back on the movie, the one that is there, stands much better.

Very good and very sad drama with elements of war. Depicts the sad events that happened during the mid to late 80s on the southern Balkans when the tense crisis was going on.