Underground

Underground is a 1995 award-winning film directed by Emir Kusturica with a screenplay by Dušan Kovačević. It is also known by the subtitle Once Upon a Time There Was a Country , which was the title of the 5-hour mini-series shown on Serbian RTS television. The film uses the epic story of two friends to portray and satirise the history of Yugoslavia since the Second World War. The film was an international co-production with companies from Yugoslavia, France, Germany and Hungary. The theatrical version is 163 minutes long. In interviews, Kusturica stated that his original... version ran for over 320 minutes, and that he was forced to cut it by co-producers. The plot is presented through three parts: War, Cold War, and War. The film opens in Belgrade, the capital of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, in the early morning hours of Sunday, April 6, 1941 as two roguish bon vivants Petar Popara nicknamed Crni and Marko Dren are heading home following a night of hard drinking and partying out on the town.
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