"Montevideo, see you": A true cinema film, first-class acting and an excellent script

One of the specifics of Balkan cinema is that most authors seem to make films for themselves and not for the audience. As a result, there is a dominant presence of dramas that are heavier than life, controversial titles that attract attention with a shock effect, but also the loss of viewers.

When in 2010 "Montevideo, Bog te video!" was filmed based on the script of Srđan Dragojević and Ranko Božić, this trend was reversed, at least when it comes to Serbian films. Instead of a story about a Serbia that is ashamed, someone made a film about a Serbia that is proud, which is why the audience, tired of masochistic lamentations, welcomed the work with open arms.

Pessimism was replaced by optimism that had coverage, with someone finally singing "God's Justice" in the cinema without being a dim-witted fan or a war criminal. If we add to that young and talented actors, a romantic story, appealing music, as well as an excellent production, it is not unusual that "Montevideo" became a big hit in the countries of the region as well. It was followed by a series that was the most watched in Croatia during its run, and this year the second sequel is in cinemas.

The football team of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia came to Montevideo in 1930 to participate in the World Cup in football. Tirke (Miloš Biković) is trying to get over his breakup with his girlfriend, while Moša (Petar Strugar) is thinking about whether to stay in Uruguay. In the hotel where they are staying, they soon meet Miljenko Paković Pak (Branko Đurić), a Croat from Mostar, who becomes Stanoj's (Predrag Vasić) good friend. After a great game against Brazil, football manager Hodgkins (Armand Asante) offers contracts to individual players. This causes division in the team, and it starts to affect the game.

Unlike the first part, which primarily dealt with growing up, "Montevideo, see you!" shows the decisions our heroes make as mature people. He is happy that, introducing the plot with manager Hodgkins, the author's team made a film that is not a mere copy of the first part, but its natural extension. On the other hand, in the desire not to disappoint the already existing audience, the aim was to keep the romance, with the introduction of a comic western climax. Because of this, the piece looks more like a collage puzzle than a compact work.

The second installment of "Montevideo" is the best when the heroes stick to the theme of the film, which is the World Cup in football. The atmosphere in the team, the development of the characters, the training of the heroes and the disintegration of the team are the best elements of this work. However, aware that by showing only this, the cinematic potential would be significantly impaired, the authors expertly introduced Tirket's romance with Dolores (Elena Martinez), and in order to cover the Balkans, there is also the Croat Pako.

As soon as he appears for the first time, Pako says what he thinks about Yugoslavia and the Serbs, to which Turke just waves her hand because if she answered, the ratings in the region would probably suffer. The authors tried to keep such conflicting dialogues to a minimum, but the resolution of certain situations with Pak seems to be dictated by production reasons rather than dramatic reasons.

If this segment of the film can be dismissed as something that may or may not bother the average viewer, this is not the case for the subplot with the Uruguayan Kiko (Francisco Vera). Although the character of Grandma Julia (Concha Hidalgo from "Matador") is one of the funniest in the film, the romantic western burdens the already heavy enough story and unnecessarily introduces new characters. The biggest problem is that until the final sequence of Tirket's release, it is easy to believe that the work was filmed based on a true event, but the fantasticness of the denouement shatters that illusion.

The attempt to graft a deep philosophy onto such a healthy work results in very unusual and brave scenes. The most memorable one is the one in which Moša plays football with the colony of lepers from "Ben Hur", whose settlement is described as a ghost town. It should be noted here that Moša is an indecisive stateless person who is trying to make sense of life and is torn whether it is moral to leave or stay.

In a match with the despised, he realizes that there is a chance for them too, and that even in the most hopeless situation there is hope. As for Moša, he will soon sign the contract and emigrate, and as for the lepers, they will continue to play football in their colony, happy that Moša has found peace. Any resemblance to current events is coincidental.

Another bizarre element in the film is the voodoo monkey, which, along with Stanoj, becomes the mascot of the Yugoslav national team. It is really unusual decision of the author that the biggest fan of the Yugoslav team is a monkey. It should be noted that the monkey-fan shows his thieving nature by stealing sneakers from Nikola Đuričko, and that as soon as he escapes from the cage-prison. Of course, a monkey wouldn't be a fan (and not even a monkey) if he didn't manage to throw something at the steward from Uruguay, and managed to take over the spell of Brazil fans.

It remains unclear what such a mundane parallel is looking for in a film of this type. At the end, we should mention the completely superfluous appearance of Dragan Bjelogrlić, with the note that the film itself did not significantly benefit from the elliptical structure, because we learn absolutely nothing about the aging Stanoje, except that he is Stanoje. Also, the scene in which he hears the past calling him does not have the nostalgic character that adorns the end of "Once Upon a Time in America" ​​(Sergio Leone, 1984), but almost turns the film into a horror.

All of the above, fortunately, quickly fades when you consider how the key thing is shown, which is the relationship between the football players themselves. The script, written by Dragan Bjelogrlić, Ranko Božić and Dimitrije Vojnov, shows its full strength here and can be described as exceptional.

First of all, "Montevideo, see you!" is one of the rare cinema films that does not have one-dimensional characters. Our heroes want different things from life and their reactions are completely natural in the context of the described characters.

The film deals with archetypes (Milutinac and Ivica Bek), but it was achieved that they act as flesh and blood people at the same time. Not that it's all fun, some of the more striking dialogues are reserved for the dressing room, especially for Andrejka. His speech to the players during halftime, in which he tells them that he will play and lose and that it is all unfair, but that it is also life, is certainly the dramatic highlight of the film, which redeems all its shortcomings in one scene.

As for the technical qualities, they are such that it can be said that there is no element in which this work differs from contemporary Hollywood works, except that it is better than most. The acting can be described as first-class, and the commitment and seriousness of the younger part of the cast is especially pleasing.

That's why "Montevideo, see you!" is an ideal cinema film that has soul and is easy to enjoy. All its advantages and disadvantages stem from the need to completely adapt to the audience's taste, while at the same time maintaining artistic integrity.

Although this combination is not perfect, Dragan Bjelogrlić confirmed the status of Zdravko Šotra of the new generation with this work, and viewers got a more than worthy continuation of the first part.

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