One late night two days ago, I watched a Serbian movie "The Fantastic Life of a Milk Delivery Man" in the "Art Cinema" column of CCTV 6 Movie Channel, and I was deeply impressed. In the past two days, some plots of the movie have always appeared in my mind, and I feel a bit lingering. The quaint villages and towns, beautiful natural scenery, and music with Slavic ethnic characteristics in the movie are all very attractive.
This is a realistic film that describes the disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, national divisions and civil strife. It narrates the tragic and joyful experiences of a Serb rural milk deliveryman during the war. . However, the director did not stick to "realism". Instead, he used some absurd scene arrangements and detailed character portrayals to let the audience deepen their impression of the male protagonist, develop deep sympathy for him, and understand the background of the story and the moral of the movie. Interested in further exploration.
The plot of the movie is not complicated. The village where this Serb rural milk deliveryman lives is experiencing a war due to ethnic confrontation due to the interference of external forces. The two sides faced off, shooting and shelling each other from time to time. The villagers were determined to resist through force and defend their hometown from the devastation of the war. A local excellent female gymnast from the former Yugoslavia is deeply in love with her neighbor (the male protagonist) - a milk delivery man with some weird behavior (no matter rain or shine, he always carries a falcon and flies a hawk). Carrying a black umbrella and riding a donkey to deliver milk), she only wanted to marry him after the war was over, but the milk delivery man was noncommittal and seemed to have no feelings for her. At this time, an Italian girl (played by Monica Bellucci) was sold here from a refugee camp. The buyer was the female gymnast. She wanted the Italian girl to become her brother who was serving as a soldier outside. The bride... But unexpectedly, in daily contact, the milk delivery man and the Italian girl met their eyes and fell in love with each other. After the war was declared over, the female gymnast's brother returned home from the army. He seemed to accept the milk delivery man and agreed that he would become his brother-in-law. The brother and sister planned to hold a wedding on the same day. But the milk delivery man was still in love with the Italian girl... Just the night before the wedding, the two stayed together until they were discovered by the female gymnast, so she became jealous and the two women struggled in the room. Together, it made the milk delivery man very embarrassed. He was neither on the left nor on the right. The three of them made a scene from his residence to the party. Fortunately, the female gymnast's brother was already drunk at this time and did not notice, and asked them to dance together. So the two women, one on each side, took the milk delivery man's arm and joined the happy crowd to dance in the square. Neither of them noticed that a disaster would quietly come the next day. The falcon that understands music; the big clock that "bites"; the white duck that jumps into pig blood to attract flies as its own food; the hen that dances in front of the mirror to lay eggs and other weird plots make the first half of the movie more interesting. The section looks more and more like a light comedy with an absurd plot.
Although the war was declared over, a peaceful life did not come. The next morning, a group of soldiers parachuted in by helicopter. Their mission was to capture the Italian girl. Because she had previously testified in court, a British general was convicted and served three years in prison. After the general got the news that she was here, he hired people to capture her and take revenge. This group of soldiers was very cruel. They first sent snipers to kill several villagers guarding the village (all good partners of the milk delivery man), and then used flamethrowers to massacre all the villagers, including the female gymnast and his Brother, even the little donkey later became the target of shooting. The Italian girl escaped by hiding in a well. A milk deliveryman was entangled by a snake on the way to deliver milk (he had poured milk for the snake many times), but he escaped this disaster. When he returned to the village and saw this tragic scene, he was filled with righteous indignation. He first used a black umbrella to kill the spy who was originally lurking in the village, and then rescued the Italian girl, and the two escaped from the village together. Along the way, they walked through the forest, jumped off cliffs, rolled down waterfalls, hid in tree holes, burrowed in reeds, and even mixed in with sheep to avoid pursuing soldiers. They also killed three pursuing soldiers. However, the "lovers" did not "finally get married". Just in front of the milk delivery man, the Italian girl trapped in a minefield accidentally detonated a landmine and died in an instant.
After going through all kinds of hardships, he got such a sad result, which made the milk delivery man miserable. He also wanted to follow the one he loved, but was dissuaded by an old shepherd. The end of the movie is: Fifteen years have passed, and this old milk deliveryman has been doing one thing. He keeps carrying stones from the quarry in order to remove the piece of film that took the girl's life. The land fills up... The second half of this movie is like a drama, the plot is tense and exciting, and it is always heart-wrenching to watch. And when you watch the end, you will feel deeply sad for what happened to the milk delivery man, and you will naturally curse the executioners who deprive others of their happiness and life.
In fact, after understanding the history of the division of Yugoslavia, it is not difficult to understand the meaning of the director's artistic film: if all ethnic groups in a country cannot live in equality and harmony, they will let external forces Taking advantage of the opportunity, it will eventually lead to the division of the country and the suffering of the people. The war will not only cause devastation of life, but also leave hard-to-heal pain in history... Just like what is depicted at the end of the movie, how many years have passed, the war caused "Scars" can never be covered up.
I checked online afterwards and found that the film took three years to shoot and premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September 20xx. It won the Golden Lion Award at the 73rd Venice Film Festival. The film was released in Serbia in February 20xx.