an Yugoslavian documentar from 1981 by Svetolik Mitic.
A documentary about the daily life in Yugoslavia; It is a nice journey through the Yugoslavian society.
A January day in 1981. The Film starts in the morning, when the author, struggling to catch the quite full tram or bus, on the way to his work, the Yugoslavian Television in Belgrade. There after the procedure of entre in the building, he got an interview with (suposely) the director of television.
We go further into the market, where perhaps for the first time in Yugoslavia, certain products become more difficult to obtain, such as coffee. On his trip Mitic (the author), makes different stops, to the Market, Shopping Center, Agriculture, Car Market, Auto House, Travel Agency, Factories, University, Parks, etc. where he always maintains contact with people.
Through interviews, Mitic always remains in the background, discreet, letting the people be natural, as they always are. Here I notice a rather huge difference between Yugoslavia and Romania; how people behave on camera. I was born in the 70s in Romania and I grew up in Bucharest.
In Romania in the mid 80s it was the beginning of the authoritarian regime of Ceausescu, this makes the people be very afraid and scared of the regime, of the repressive consequences of their behaviour in the daily life and especially, if they are in front of the camera.
In Romania, Film-Camera has always been the eye of the regime, so whatever has shown Romanian society has always been a performance of the “good communist”. To remind, in the mid 80’s Ceausescu, reduce television emissions from 2 channels to a single channel with almost two or four hours of programming.
Of our neighbours at the time, Yugoslavia was the most “free” country with by far the best television broadcast. They showed many films, all with subtitles, music, football and publicity. Yes, for some Romanians at the time, publicity was something to be enjoyed. The people who could watch Yugoslav television were the lucky ones, simply because they can watch these television channels. Of our neighbours at the time, Yugoslavia was the most “free” country with by far the best television broadcast. Most of these people live close to the boarder. The Yugoslavian TV Channels felt for the some Romanian people who were able to watchit, like a window into the world.
On the other side, Yugoslavia, as you can see, people have a very nonchalant way of being in front of the camera, especially very simple people.
The scene with the farmer, the tractor driver, is a tribute to the working people of the land. The delicate way how Mitic depicts the farmer: talking while he is still working, his hands full of earth, he eats looking of the tractor, and running after it, is the meal with also two bottles of beer and one of Schlibovitz, shows the reality of this place, the culture of these people, in the very naturalistic way.
The contrast between the hard life of these people and the sensible manner in which the author presents it, is in this scene above.
Interviews are stations, where his interlocutors are the main actors of these locations. Although I can’t understand what people said in the Film, through an eloquent visual language, Mitic allows to understand the atmosphere of these places and the mood of the people in this great document.
As a Romanian, I was neither able to see nor visit Belgrade at that time. Watching this documentary, I realize that most things are similar to Bucharest, as in Romania at the time. The differences (persons, places) are not visible. There is one situation in the Film, which it would be absolutely impossible in Romania. This shows the enormous difference between these two countries, especially at the political level, at the time: the Sequent on the bus station, where buses head towards Italy. Where ordinary Yugoslavians travel for “shopping” in Italy or travel elsewhere. That’s what all the Romanians at the time know, but no one has ever seen it. Yugoslavia is the only neighboring country that has free movement.
The interviews with the students from the philosophy faculty could give a nice insight in the “Zeitgeist” of the time in Belgrade. Unfortunatley I don´t know what they are talking about. The Film ends with pictures of friends enjoying time together in a Park. A nice documentary, therefore I love to have a translation.
STRUCTURI09 
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