Battle of Neretva (1969)

 

                    “Battle of Neretva” (“Bitka na Neretvi”) is the most expensive Yugoslavian movie ever made.  Tito himself green-lit the project.  He provided 10,000 Yugoslavian troops and T-34 tanks that were mocked up to be German panzers.  It was directed by Veljko Bulajic.  The production lasted 16 months.  Four villages and a fortress were built and destroyed.  A 400-foot bridge was constructed and then blown up.  Unfortunately, the resulting cloud of dust and debris ruined the shot.  They rebuilt the bridge, but the same thing happened.  What we see in the film is a model.  The money Tito threw at the film attracted some big name stars.  Pablo Picasso did a poster for the movie (one of only two he did) because he liked Yugoslav films.  He asked for a case of wine.  The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, but lost to “Z”.

                    The action takes place in 1943.  The Germans, Italians, and their non-communist allies are attempting to clean partisans out of the Neretva River region.  A long convoy of panzers is contrasted with the raggedy partisans marching through a cheering village.  Nazi Gen. Lohring (Curt Jurgens) outlines the plans on a map.  The offensive is to pre-empt an expected Allied intervention in the Balkans.  He orders his men:  Don’t spare the partisans.  After a chance for Orson Welles to earn his paycheck as a Chetnik politician, the movie launches into the epic battles it thinks will be the other draw, along with the stunt casting.  The first battle scene is big.  There are lots of tanks and plenty of Yugoslavian soldiers disguised as partisans.  These dudes die about as well as the Spanish extras in “Battle of the Bulge”.  One guy does a cartwheel!  Col. Kranzer (Hardy Kruger) is in command.  His equivalent on the partisan side is Martin (famous director Sergei Bondarchuk).  The battle ends suddenly with the Germans pulling back for no reason.  (I must have seen the greatly shortened international version).  From here, the movie jumps from set piece to set piece with new characters popping up every now and then.  Yul Brynner plays a demolition expert because even in 1969 Europeans liked to see things get blown up.  And not just bridges (which was unimpressive, in my opinion).  Planes intermittently show up to drop bombs, which they do have.  Subplots include a comely female soldier named Danica (Sylva Koskina).  Everyone in the partisan army (and the audience) falls in love with her.  An Italian Lt. Riva (Franco Riva) switches sides because he hates fascism.  He refuses to shoot Italians, but has no such compulsion with regard to Germans. 

                    The movie builds to the bridge, which is blown up by Vlado (Brynner), then rebuilt so the Chetniks can cross.  Battles are thrown in, but they are not showstoppers.  They are repetitive.  The hand-to-hand combat is bad.  The deaths are of the touchdown-signaling variety.  The battles are confusing and it is often unclear what is happening and why.  There are some bizarre moments.  In the middle of one battle, the partisans break out into song.  In another scene, German mortars target Danika!                  

                    The effort is obvious in the production.  But money doesn’t buy quality.  The characters are poorly developed and the acting is bad.  The best characters are the females, like Danika. You definitely get the impression the stars were just putting in the time.    They are given forgettable dialogue to spout, but the film is not overly propagandistic.  It does leave no doubt who the good guys are.  However, the Germans and Italians are not demonized.  How could you demonize Hardy Kruger?                 

                    The movie is far from a documentary.  I had to read up on the battle to get an idea of what actually happened.  It turns out that the movie is not far off.  Hitler did order an offensive to crush the partisans before an expected Anglo-American invasion.  His amalgamated forces were ordered to be ruthless.  Captured partisans were to be executed, civilians were to be deported, and villages were to be destroyed.  The movie gives a taste of this, but it downplays the atrocities.  Tito responded to the threat by creating the Main Operational Group.  The greatly outnumbered partisans were able to blunt the German attacks and even launched night counterattacks that the movie depicts. Tito ordered the attack on the city of Prozar and the blowing of the bridge.  He then ordered the retreat back across the bridge which wrong-footed the Germans.  The movie accurately depicts the routing of the Chetniks holding the high ground on the far side of the river.  It surprises me that Tito is not given a major role in the movie.  I found no evidence the other characters were real people, although Gen Lohring was clearly meant to be Gen. Lohr.

                    “Battle of Neretva” is the European answer to “Battle of the Bulge”.  Although I am no fan of the American movie, it is better than this Yugoslavian film.  At least “Bulge” had some verve to it.  It also had indelible characters and the actors were all in on the silliness.  “Neretva” is more pompous, as a Tito-approved homage to his partisans would be.  It certainly did not deserve an Academy Award nomination.  I am not a fan of “Army of Shadows”, but it came out in 1969 and is certainly a better movie.   

GRADE  =  D