Cinema
Train Without a Timetable
Vlak bez voznog reda
Veljko Bulajić · 1959
Synopsis
In 1946, a village in the Dalmatian hinterland leaves as one, in freight wagons, to settle on the fertile lands of the north that the State is distributing to partisan families. Lovre Brikota travels with his brothers Duje and Periša; the sailor Nikolica, Periša's comrade in arms, grows attached to Ike; along the way, Periša falls in love with Dana, the daughter of another village, who is promised to the son of a landowner from Baranja. The train moves slowly, stops often, and a new community forms in the wagons.
Context
The first feature film by its author, it was released on 14 March 1959 and runs one hundred and twenty-one minutes. The screenplay is by Bulajić, Stjepan Perović, Ivo Braut and Elio Petri, the photography by Krešo Grčević. It shows the colonisation of 1946, which moved families from the poor regions of the Dinaric massif to the plains of Slavonia, Baranja and Vojvodina, from which the German inhabitants had been expelled; the narrative is shared among about ten destinies, and critics recognise in it the mark of neorealism.
Who it is for
Two hours, in Serbo-Croatian. It helps to know what Yugoslav internal colonisation was and where the people who were moved came from.
Prizes and reception
First among the Yugoslav films of 1959 at Pula, with the Golden Arena for screenplay; in competition at Cannes and put forward by Yugoslavia for the Oscar.
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