Cinema
H-8
Nikola Tanhofer · 1958
Synopsis
On a rainy night, a coach leaves Zagreb for Belgrade on the two-lane road. From the start we know that a car, overtaking recklessly, will throw it against a lorry and flee without anything being remembered of it except the start of its plate, H-8; we even know how many passengers will die, and in which seats. But the travellers change seats as the journey goes on, and we get to know them without knowing which will be struck.
Context
The film starts from a real accident: on the night of 14 April 1957, on the Zagreb motorway, a coach and a lorry collided after overtaking a car that drove off. Zvonimir Berković and Tomislav Butorac drew the screenplay from it, from an idea by Berković and the director, keeping the exactness of the accident and inventing the passengers. Photographed by Slavko Zalar, edited by Radojka Tanhofer, to a score by Dragutin Savin, it was released on 15 July 1958; the shots of the moving vehicles are made with models, and Gaby Novak sings Sretan put in it.
Who it is for
One hundred and four or one hundred and five minutes, in Serbo-Croatian; the device is understood from the first few minutes.
Prizes and reception
Big Golden Arena for best film at Pula in 1958, together with the prizes for direction, screenplay and the audience; first in the 2020 survey of Croatian critics.
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