The Battle of Neretva
Encyclopedia
Veljko Bulajic
Veljko Bulajić , today is a Croatian film director and actor of Montenegrin descent, most of his life working in Croatia...
, and directed by Veljko Bulajić. It is based on the true events of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The Battle of the Neretva was due to a strategic plan for a combined Axis powers
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
attack in 1943 against the Yugoslav Partisans. The plan was also known as the Fourth Enemy Offensive and occurred in the area of the Neretva river
Neretva
Neretva is the largest river of the eastern part of the Adriatic basin. It has been harnessed and controlled to a large extent by four HE power-plants with large dams and their storage lakes, but it is still recognized for its natural beauty, diversity of its landscape and visual...
in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
.
Battle of Neretva is the most expensive motion picture made in the SFR Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
, the year after Sergei Bondarchuk
Sergei Bondarchuk
Sergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, and actor.- Biography :Born in Belozerka, in the Kherson Governorate, Sergei Bondarchuk spent his childhood in the cities of Yeysk and Taganrog, graduating from the Taganrog School Number 4 in 1938. His first performance as an...
(playing the role of Martin in Neretva) won the honour for War and Peace. The English language version features a score by American composer Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann was an American composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...
.
One of the original posters for the English version of the movie was made by Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, which, according to Bulajić, the famous painter agreed to do without payment, only requesting a case of the best Yugoslav wines.
Production
Battle of Neretva was first of the huge state-sponsored World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
film productions. It had a staggering budget approved personally by Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
. Different sources put it anywhere between $4.5 million and $12 million. Global stars such as Sergei Bondarchuk
Sergei Bondarchuk
Sergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, and actor.- Biography :Born in Belozerka, in the Kherson Governorate, Sergei Bondarchuk spent his childhood in the cities of Yeysk and Taganrog, graduating from the Taganrog School Number 4 in 1938. His first performance as an...
, Yul Brynner
Yul Brynner
Yul Brynner was a Russian-born actor of stage and film. He was best known for his portrayal of Mongkut, king of Siam, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film version; he also played the role more than 4,500 times on...
, Franco Nero
Franco Nero
Franco Nero is an Italian actor.-Early life:Nero was born Francesco Sparanero in San Prospero Parmense , the son of a sergeant in the...
, Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
, etc. flocked to Yugoslavia attracted by the huge sums of money being offered.
Shot over 16 months with funds put up in largest part by over 58 self-managed companies in Yugoslavia, the movie featured a combined battalion of 10,000 actual Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
(JNA) soldiers. Four villages and a fortress were especially constructed for the film, and subsequently destroyed. Countless Soviet-made T-34
T-34
The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1940 to 1958. Although its armour and armament were surpassed by later tanks of the era, it has been often credited as the most effective, efficient and influential design of World War II...
tanks that were touched up to look like German Tiger I
Tiger I
Tiger I is the common name of a German heavy tank developed in 1942 and used in World War II. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. E, often shortened to Tiger. It was an answer to the unexpectedly formidable Soviet armour encountered in the initial months of...
tanks met the same fate.
Additionally, an actual railway bridge over Neretva River in Jablanica
Jablanica
Jablanica or Yablanitsa may refer to:* Jablanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, a town in Herzegovina* Yablanitsa, a town in Lovech Province, Bulgaria* Yablanitsa, Sofia Province, village in Sofia Province, Bulgaria* Jablanica, Zlatibor, village in Serbia...
was destroyed. Director Bulajić's justification for taking down an actual bridge rather than getting the shots in studio was that a destroyed bridge would later become a tourist attraction. The bridge was thus blown up, but because none of the footage was usable due to the billowing smoke that made it impossible to see anything, it was decided that the bridge should be repaired and destroyed again. However, the problem with the excessive smoke occurred even when the bridge was blown up for the second time. Finally, the scenes of the bridge being blown up that eventually ended up in the film were shot using a small scale table-size replica at a sound stage in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
.
Main cast
- Sergei BondarchukSergei BondarchukSergei Fedorovich Bondarchuk was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, and actor.- Biography :Born in Belozerka, in the Kherson Governorate, Sergei Bondarchuk spent his childhood in the cities of Yeysk and Taganrog, graduating from the Taganrog School Number 4 in 1938. His first performance as an...
as Martin - Yul BrynnerYul BrynnerYul Brynner was a Russian-born actor of stage and film. He was best known for his portrayal of Mongkut, king of Siam, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film version; he also played the role more than 4,500 times on...
as Vlado - Curt Jürgens as General Lohring
- Bata ŽivojinovićBata ŽivojinovicVelimir "Bata" Živojinović is a Serbian actor and politician.-Biography:Živojinović was born in the town of Koraćica, Mladenovac, Serbia , under the Kosmaj mountain...
as Stole - Sylva KoscinaSylva KoscinaSylva Koscina was an Italian actress.-Biography:...
as Danica - Boris DvornikBoris DvornikBoris Dvornik was a Croatian actor.Born in Split to the family of a carpenter, Boris Dvornik discovered acting talent at an early age, while performing in children's plays. After studying to become an electrician, he began to pursue a full-time acting career...
as Stipe - Hardy KrügerHardy KrügerHardy Krüger is a German actor. He is thought of as one of the greatest German actors of the 1960s. He was born in Wedding, Berlin, German Reich...
as Colonel Kranzer - Franco NeroFranco NeroFranco Nero is an Italian actor.-Early life:Nero was born Francesco Sparanero in San Prospero Parmense , the son of a sergeant in the...
as Captain Michael Riva - Lojze Rozman as Ivan
- Ljubiša SamardžićLjubiša SamardžicLjubiša Samardžić is a Serbian actor and director, who is best known as Šurda in the Vruć vetar TV series.- Early life :Born to the family of a coal miner, his acting talent was discovered very early and he won a scholarship with respected director Bojan Stupica. Samardžić was educated at the...
as Novak - Orson WellesOrson WellesGeorge Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
as ChetnikChetniksChetniks, or the Chetnik movement , were Serbian nationalist and royalist paramilitary organizations from the first half of the 20th century. The Chetniks were formed as a Serbian resistance against the Ottoman Empire in 1904, and participated in the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II...
senator - Milena DravićMilena DravicMilena Dravić is a Serbian actress.Born in Belgrade, Dravić was involved with the performing arts from the age of four: first with dance and later classical ballet...
as Nada - Pavle Vuisić as Jordan
- Fabijan ŠovagovićFabijan ŠovagovicFabijan Šovagović was a Croatian actor.Fabijan Šovagović was born in the village of Ladimirevci, in the Slavonia region of Croatia. He began acting in his youth and from late 1950s he appeared in many films, becoming one of the most recognisable faces of Croatian cinema...
as Boško - Anthony DawsonAnthony DawsonAnthony Dawson was a Scottish-born actor, best known for his supporting roles in British films.Born in Edinburgh, he made his film debut in 1943's They Met in the Dark, going on to appear in such classic British films as The Way to the Stars , The Queen of Spades , and The Wooden Horse , before...
as General Morelli - Dušan Bulajić as chetnik officer
- Howard RossHoward Ross (actor)Howard Ross is an Italian actor who has appeared in numerous films including Lo squartatore di New York, 5 bambole per la luna d'agosto, La lupa mannara, and I guerrieri dell'anno 2072....
as Sgt. Mario - Oleg VidovOleg VidovOleg Borisovich Vidov is a Russian actor. He appeared in 50 films since 1961. He was a sex symbol of his generation in Russia, and many of his films are still played on Russian television today....
as Nikola - Kole Angelovski as Žika
- Stole Aranđelović as Šumadinac
- Demeter BitencDemeter BitencDemeter Bitenc is a Slovenian film actor. He has appeared in 75 films since 1953. He was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia.-Selected filmography:* Target for Killing * Private Vices, Public Pleasures...
as Captain Schroeder - Faruk BegolliFaruk BegolliFaruk Begolli was the most famous Kosovo Albanian actor and director of Yugoslavia ....
as Lieutenant Horst
See also
- List of Yugoslavian films
- List of most expensive non-English language films
- List of submissions to the 42nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of Yugoslav submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film