Life Is a Miracle (2004)

That was an excellent one.

Absolutely Fantastic

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Once again, this is the sort of movies that couldn't have been made by anyone other than Kusturica.The way he turned chaos into a carnival, apparently to trivialise the whole mess that was actually plaguing on in the war-torn Balkan state but indeed to embody the utter frustration never fails to amuse and spark off chains of dark humour. The way people tried to carry on their everyday life of cooking, sleeping, playing chess, making love, etc...with bombs exploding literally next door was so successful in boosting up the utmost sarcasm and satire of people's helplessness and bitter acceptance of war and death as an inseparable part of their lives. As is "When father's away on business", this apparently lyrical and musical comedy can't do much to hide the dark sides underneath. But as usual, Kusturica is also trying to bring the the same message - in the most horrific of times, there is still something called love for people to cling to and seek shelter under after all.

In 1992, in a small Bosnian village, the Serbian engineer Luka Djuric (Slavko Stimac) is constructing the local railway and lives in the middle of nowhere with his beloved aspirant soccer player son Milos (Vuk Kostic) and his annoying former opera singer wife Jadranka Djuric (Vesna Trivalic). After a soccer game, Milos expects to be invited to play in the Partisan' team, but is called-up to the army. Luka can not believe that a war is beginning in his country and forces his son to join the army. Meanwhile after Milos' farewell party, Jadranka leaves Luka, traveling away with a musician. When the war reaches the area where Luka lives, Milos is captured alive by the enemy. Later, the Muslin nurse Sabaha (Natasa Solak) is abducted by the Bosnian soldiers and the lieutenant asks the lonely Luka to host her as prisoner because they would try to exchange Milos for Sabaha, who belonged to a wealthy family. As the days go by, Luka and Sabaha fall in love for each other until the day that Jadranka returns and the trade of Milos per Sabaha is accepted.The beginning of "Zivot je Cudo" is surrealistic and funny and annoying at the same time. The character Jadranka Djuric is one of the most bothersome I have ever seen, and the weird situations made me believe that this movie would be a boring comedy. However, after the departure of Milos and Jadranka, the story becomes very attractive, and when Sabaha appears the astral of the story changes to a magnificent and dramatic romance. The gorgeous actress Natasa Solak is unknown in Brazil at least for me, but I loved her performance and her beautiful character. Further, I was cheering for a happy and commercial ending, and I also appreciated the conclusion with Luka and Sabaha leaving together the blackness of the tunnel metaphorically representing the life of Luka after Sabaha's departure to her country. Another plus in this romance is that it does not focus the cruelties of this bloody war. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "A Vida É um Milagre" ("The Life is a Miracle")

For those who have already seen other Kusturica movies, this one will clearly be seen as a further step in the evolution of a great director. Some of his trademark ingredients are there: the basic carnal pleasures of life, the tragicomic Balkan-style eating/drinking/making love, his deep dislike for war and for any type of inter-ethnic strife, his heartfelt contempt for international organisations which did not prevent the massacres in former Yugoslavia, his entirely non-PC men and women characters, his optimism. These are recurring layers of his Balkan moussaka, but perhaps more are being added, as his optimism appears now turning into a nearly messianic faith that eventually, by helping each other, things will be as good as they can (though not impossibly so, as in Hollywood...). It is not something one might rationally believe, but it is enchanting nonetheless. Ultimately this is a movie about human hope, unpolluted by religious nonsense. There lays its real value.

Emir Kuturica offers us an incredibly alive cast and a gripping journey to experiencing the whole gamma of saturated human emotions. Whether at peaceful life or at war, sharing joy of being with friends or bitter taste of parting, the characters in the film are given a fascinating ability to see beauty in every moment of their life. They are bright personalities, they are full of dignity, they are honest and direct in their feelings, and they experience life to the full. Lively motion of camera & beautiful sceneries bring the final touch. A remarkably colourful film. Highly recommend to everybody who is into really good cinema.