Tribeca 2011: Cinema Komunisto Review
By David Kempler
Slavs On Film
Some prefer Hollywood. Others prefer French. Yet others swoon over Italian. It's not often that when people wax poetic about the great legacies of filmmaking does Yugoslavia enter the discussion, but "Cinema Komunisto" does just that. It weaves a love affair of adulation towards Yugoslavian film, specifically under the leadership of Tito.
I confess to being ignorant about any of this but was surprised to learn that Yugoslavia did produce an Academy Award nominee in 1969, entitled "Battle on the Neretva". I haven't seen it, but one character in this documentary lauds it by saying that it stood out because they pushed a lot of military equipment into the water and America could never have accomplished this. I'm not sure if the comment was meant to be funny, but it certainly was.
"Cinema Komunisto" supposedly centers upon Leka Konstantinovic, Tito's personal projectionist. Each time Tito and his wife, and their guests sat down to watch a movie - and that was quite often - Leka was in charge of the audio visual presentation. In truth, we don't see all that much of Leka. He pops in and out and tells us next to nothing other than he ran the projector and liked Tito.
The stars of the show are a bunch of big names from that era in Yugoslavia. Directors, actors, producers and other members of the industry wistfully tell stories about the good old days at Avala Films in Belgrade.
Another funny moment occurs when Avala Films wants to make a movie based on Tito's life. Naturally, without his permission and approval nothing can get done. As a result they leave it up to Tito to choose the man who will portray him. He makes the logical choice and opts for that famed Slavic actor, Richard Burton. The scenes we see from the biopic, "Sutjeska", don't stamp it as must-see material.
There are some good moments sprinkled throughout "Cinema Komunisto" and I have no doubt that people already aware of these things and people of the local heritage will derive more pleasure than I did from it. And some hardcore film buffs might certainly feel like they are experiencing something special. The problem is that I think its target audience is a bit narrow, even if they could throw tanks into the water.
