TRECA ZENA (1997)
A Film Review Copyright Dragan Antulov 2003
Pointless remakes aren't the in the exclusive domain of Hollywood. THE THIRD MAN, Carol Reed's 1949 British classic and one of the best films ever made, had its new incarnation in TRECA ZENA, 1997 Croatian thriller directed by Zoran Tadic.
The plot of this film is set in Zagreb during Autumn of 1991, in a time when Croatia, following declaration of independence, fought war with secessionist Serb rebels and its backers from federal Yugoslav Army. Capital city of Zagreb was not directly affected by war, but its citizens had to endure months of blackouts and air raid alerts. Hela Martinic (played by Ena Begovic) is Croatian emigre to Australia who returns to Zagreb, called by her old friend Vera Kralj (played by Alma Prica). Upon arrival, she finds that Vera was killed in apparent traffic accident. In spite of police officials telling her to forget about it, she decides to investigate the mysterious circumstances of the whole affair. Encounters with Vera's friends, lovers and associates slowly reveal that Vera was involved in organ smuggling.
Zoran Tadic is one of the most celebrated artists in history of Croatia's film industry. His 1981 black-and-white thriller RITAM ZLOCINA was hailed as one of the best films ever made in former Yugoslavia. It was followed by series of thrillers, mere genre setting them apart from the rest of Croatian films. In 1990s came war and Tadic stopped producing films, with new generation of film watchers adopting legend of "Croatian Hitchcock". It is understatement to say that TRECA ZENA didn't live up to expectation created by such status.
The most obvious flaw in the film is lack of creativity shown by Tadic's long time associate and favourite scriptwriter Pavao Pavlicic (one of Croatia's most respected writers, specialised in crime genre). Word "remake" is too flattering for Pavlicic's efforts - he borrows plot, characters and even some dialogue lines from THE THIRD MAN and mechanically implants them into 1991 Zagreb setting, with little or no regard for plausibility. Some changes are necessary - penicillin smuggling becomes organ smuggling; rivalry between Western Allies and Soviets in occupied Vienna is changed into Good Cop/Bad Cop dynamic between regular Croatian police and redneck neo-Ustasha military intelligence. Some changes are unnecessary, like the genders of couple of protagonists being different from those of their THIRD MAN equivalents. Some changes is difficult to explain, including the ending, which is different from the one in Reed's classic. Black-and-white cinematography, on the other hand, tries successfully to show that bombed-out post-WW2 Vienna and 1991 Zagreb (spared from major destruction, both in 1941-95 and 1991-95) have many things in common. However, once the novelty wears off, viewers are left with atrocious dialogue, unconvincing characters and bad acting, which was always weak spot of Croatian actors, trained for stage rather than working in front of camera.
The most interesting thing about TRECA ZENA is the way it reflects ideological mindset of Tudjman's regime that ruled Croatia at the time - the film was produced by state television and Pavlicic was member of Tudjman's HDZ party. The link between Vienna and Zagreb isn't accidental - TRECA ZENA tries to convince viewers (especially those international) that Croatia and Austria belong to same Catholic, West European culture and that West must recognise Croatia as the noble defender of its eastern boundaries, threatened by evil, barbarous, Asiatic hordes, including Serbs. Furthermore, chief villains in the film are using cover of faith-based humanitarian NGO, comprised of former Communists, whose premises are, according to film, "ex-territorial". This again fits in Tudjmanist worldview - only Catholics can be loyal Croats, while foreign NGOs that try to promote things like human rights and democracy in Croatia are nothing but convenient cover for sinister enterprises at the expense of Croatian people.
Despite few bright spots, TRECA ZENA is undoubtedly failed effort that could work only as a sad reminder of a rather traumatic chapter in Croatian history. Carol Reed's classic deserved much better form of appreciation.
RATING: 3/10 (+)
Review written on November 21st 2003
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax http://film.purger.com - Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in Croatian http://www.ofcs.org - Online Films Critics Society
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