Otac na sluzbenom putu (1985)

Director:

Emir Kusturica

Writer:

Abdulah Sidran (writer)

Release Date:

11 October 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Tito's break-up with Stalin in 1948 marked the beginning of not only confusing, but also very dangerous years for many hard-core Yugoslav communists...

Plot Keywords:

Wedding Banquet | Sarajevo Yugoslavia | Sleepwalking | Young Boy | Accordion

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Moreno D'E Bartolli	...	Malik
Miki Manojlovic	...	Mehmed Mesa Zolj
Mirjana Karanovic	...	Senija Sena Zolj
Mustafa Nadarevic	...	Zijah Zijo Zulfikarpasic
Mira Furlan	...	Ankica Vidmar
Predrag Lakovic	...	Kucepazitelj Franjo
Pavle Vujisic	...	Dedo Muzamer
Slobodan Aligrudic	...	Ostoja Cekic
Eva Ras	...	Ilonka Petrovic
Aco Djorcev	...	Dr. Ljahaov (as Aleksandar Dorcev)
Emir Hadzihafizbegovic	...	Mladji ujak
Zoran Radmilovic	...	Pilot
Jelena Covic	...	Natasa
Tomislav Gelic	...	Berberin Hamdo
Davor Dujmovic	...	Brat Mirza
Amer Kapetanovic
Silvija Puharic
Zaim Muzaferija	...	Predsjednik
Bozidarka Frajt	...	Doktorova zena
Haris Burina
Sinisa Dugaric
Milijana Zirojevic
Dimitrije Vujovic
Vejsil Pecanin
Jasmin Geljo
Nebojsa Surlan
Fahrudin Ahmetbegovic
Aleksandar Zurovac		(as Sasa Zurovac)
Mirsad Zulic

Directed by
Emir Kusturica

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Abdulah Sidran		writer

Produced by
Mirza Pasic	....	producer

Original Music by
Zoran Simjanovic

Cinematography by
Vilko Filac

Film Editing by
Andrija Zafranovic

Production Design by
Predrag Lukovac

Costume Design by
Divna Jovanovic

Makeup Department
Sukrija Sarkic	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Zlatko Lavanic	....	assistant director
Miroslav Mandic	....	assistant director

Art Department
Milorad Kalanj	....	property buyer

Sound Department
Ljubomir Petek	....	sound
Hasan Vejzagic	....	sound

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Ljiljana Martic	....	wardrober

Music Department
Semir Cebiric	....	music collaborator

Other crew
Vera Mihic-Jolic	....	administrator
Biljana Pejic	....	secretary to director

Production Companies

• Centar Film
• Forum Sarajevo

Distributors

• Cannon Film Distributors (USA) (subtitled)
• Hollydan Works (2007-2008) (non-USA) (DVD)
• Koch Lorber Films (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Scotia International Filmverleih (1985) (West Germany) (theatrical)

Also Known As:

Отац на службеном путу (Yugoslavia: Serbian title)
Otac na sluzbenom putu - ljubavno istorijski film (Yugoslavia: Serbian title) (complete title)
Papa est en voyage d'affaires
When Father Was Away on Business (USA)

Runtime:

136 min

Country:

Yugoslavia

Language:

Serbo-Croatian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:K-8 | Norway:15 | Sweden:7 | USA:R | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Company:

Centar Film

Courageous, funny, and deeply moving

Winner of the award for Best Film at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Film, Emir Kusturica's When Father Was Away on Business is a blend of comedy, family drama, and political realism that is courageous, funny, and deeply moving. The title of the film refers to the lie told to a six-year-old to cover up the fact that his father was serving time in a labor camp for making a thoughtless remark that offended the Communist apparatchiks. Set in Yugoslavia in 1950 after the break between Stalin and Tito, it was a time of confusion when people worshiped Stalin one week and despised him the next. The story is told from the perspective of six-year-old Malik (Moreno D'E Bartolli) and his performance is natural and convincing.

His father Mesa (Miki Manojlovic) is a low-level bureaucrat who spends more time womanizing and drinking than attending to his job. A casual remark filled with sarcasm about a political cartoon made to his wife Sena's (Mirjana Karanovic) sister-in-law Ankica (Mira Furlan), leads to his arrest and detention by Zijo (Mustafa Nadarevic), a Communist Party official who also happens to be his wife's brother. Mesa is sent to work in the mines while Sena becomes a seamstress to make ends meet and his sensitive son starts sleepwalking, perhaps a wry metaphor for the status of the people under Marshal Tito.

The family does reunite when Mesa is sent to a remote settlement for further re-socialization but he does not change his ways and visits prostitutes with the party official in charge of his rehabilitation, using Malik as his escort. In a sub-plot, Malik (who looks and acts more like ten or eleven than six) "falls in love" with a girl about his age who is suffering from a serious blood disorder and their inevitable separation is quite touching. Though family relations are strained, especially between Sena, Zijo, and Ankica, the family is very strong and we know that somehow they will endure. When Father Was Away on Business is perhaps the least daring cinematic ally of all of Kusturica's works but it is one of the most heartfelt and gained the director his first international success, paving the way for the full maturation of his vision in the brilliant and disturbing Underground.