UNDERGROUND A Tribute to CIBY 2000: Secrets and No Lies

“This is supposed to be a very personal
view of my country’s history in recent
times,” says Emir Kusturica, “an
attempt … [to] offer a clearer notion of the
situation in this chaotic part of the world,
which has been twisted out of recognition
by a media fed on malicious propaganda.”
Encompassing a span of nearly fifty
years, Underground begins in Germany
with the 1941 bombing of Belgrade during
World War II. There, the charming
Marko hides several partisan families in a
cellar, where they manufacture weapons
for the resistance; it isn’t long before he
convinces his best friend Blocky to join the
group so that he can be with Natalija, the
woman they both love. Upon the end of
the war, benefactor Marko neglects to tell
his friends of the latest developments; for
years, he broadcasts fictitious accounts of
German victories to perpetuate the farce,
himself making a tidy profit from the underground’s
labor. Decades pass, 1991
arrives … Underground is David Ansen?
(Newsweek) Critic? Choice