The Picasso poster
The Battle of Neretva (Bitka na Neretvi) is a 1969 film from what was once Yugoslavia, directed by Veljko Bulajić.
The setting is Yugoslavia in early 1943. Unlike most everywhere else in Nazi-occupied Europe, the Yugoslavs, under the command of Josip Broz Tito, have formed an organized Communist army and have liberated a goodly chunk of their country from the Germans. The Germans, however, are determined to put a stop to this. Even while things are going bad on the Eastern Front (the Sixth Army was starving to death in besieged Stalingrad at this time), the Nazis are massing forces to crush Tito's National Liberation Army (NOVJ). "Case White
" will involve Germans, Italians, and anti-Communist Yugoslav Cetniks will all be attacking the NOVJ. Tito and his partisans, however, have their own plans, which involve counterattacking across the Neretva River.
The Battle of Neretva, produced on Tito's orders, was reportedly the most expensive film ever produced in Yugoslavia until that country broke apart in the 1990s. The international All-Star Cast included Yul Brynner (Vlado), Sergei Bondarchuk (Martin), Curt Jurgens (Gen. Lohring), Franco Nero (Capt. Riva), Sylva Koscina (Danica), and Orson Welles as a Cetnik senator. It was produced in a Yugoslavian edition and as well as a significantly shorter English dub; Bernard Herrmann composed a score for the latter. They even got Pablo Picasso himself to make a poster for this movie.
Tropes:
- Always Chaotic Evil: Unlike the Germans and the Italians, their Ustase and Cetnik collaborators are shown in an entirely negative light.
- As You Know: When Danica makes her first appearance she makes sure to spell out her family relationships by greeting Novak with "Get up, you lazy brother, when your sister is coming!"
- Black-and-White Morality: Downplayed. While unquestionably propagandistic in nature, having been made under a communist government and all, the movie does have some nuance. The partisans are obvious good guys, but not perfect — for example, they are sometimes shown making bad decisions, being routed by the Germans, going crazy from stress and typhus, and in one infamous scene the partisan Stipe goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, gunning down dozens of surrendered Cetniks before his commander stops him. Likewise, the Germans aren't portrayed as entirely evil, and some Italians actually join the partisans.
- Butt-Monkey: As always, the Italians are the butt monkeys of the Axis war effort. As General Lohring is beginning his briefing, he makes a point of telling his aide, "When the Italians come, make them wait a little bit." And so they do, as Lohring winds up briefing the Italians only after his own officers have left.
- Les Collaborateurs:
- The Cetniks, Serbian monarchists, originally organized as an anti-Nazi La Résistance, now fighting alongside the Germans against Tito's NOVJ Communist army.
- The Ustase, Croatian fascists, also fight alongside the Germans.
- Dead Guy on Display: The Germans hang partisans that they capture, and on those partisans they hang signs meant to terrorize the populace. One dead woman hangs with a placard around her neck that says "MOSKVA WASHINGTON LONDON", the three Allied capitals.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: The first big battle scene between the NOVJ and the Germans has a soldier named Vuka dying in his brother Novak's arms.
- Driven to Suicide: Gen. Morelli of the Italian army shoots himself in the head after the partisans capture him in Prozor.
- Epic Movie: The proverbial cast of thousands, including several Western actors coming to Communist Yugoslavia to make a movie that included multiple epic battle scenes. The original cut was 2 hours and 55 minutes but the longest version that survives appears to be 2:45. (The English dub was an hour shorter.) The producers twice built a bridge over the Neretva for the sole purpose of blowing it up, but when smoke from the explosion obscured both shots, they wound up using a miniature.
- Every Car Is a Pinto: The last truck that the partisans send tumbling down the cliff of the Neretva valley (to keep the Germans from getting it) bursts into flames. It does look cool.
- The Ghost: Tito, mentioned but never seen. In one scene the partisans get a handwritten note from Tito telling them that Prozor must be taken.
- Heel–Face Turn: A number of Italian officers and soldiers defect to the Partisans, who put their gunnery skills to good use.
- Kick the Dog: The Ustase and the Cetniks each get a scene where they commit brutal war crimes, just to emphasize how evil they are.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: The Cetnik senator is in the middle of demanding that the Cetnik military commander order a retreat, when the commander shoots him to death.
- Lecture as Exposition:
- Gen. Lohring gives a briefing that explains when and where the Germans are attacking and who they're attacking with (namely, their Italian and Cetnik allies).
- Then a Yugoslav officer gives a similar briefing to his men that explains Tito's plans for a counterattack as well as the determination of the NOVJ to protect the civilians and typhus victims under their charge.
- Later Lohring gives a similar lecture to Orson Welles's Cetnik senator, in which Lohring explains to the audience the German plan to trap the partisans against the Neretva River.
- Mathematician's Answer: Two partisans are leaving a barn where there unit was resting. One says "When does the attack start?", and the other says "When the shooting starts."
- Molotov Cocktail: A woman uses one of these to take out a German tank... and gets burned by some of the blowback. She staggers away screaming that she can't see.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: German Colonel Kranzer is shown as a good officer whose only fault is that he's fighting on the wrong side. He is never unnecessarily cruel, and at one point refuses an order to lead his men into what would be a pointless and costly assault. In this way, he serves as a stark contrast to the Armchair Military officers in the German HQ.
- No Name Given: The Cetnik senator played by Orson Welles never gets a name.
- Off-into-the-Distance Ending: The partisans, having successfully made it across the Neretva and escaped the German trap, go marching off into the distance as the film ends. More battles are to come.
- Plunger Detonator: Vlado pushes a plunger detonator in an attempt to block a column of German tanks snaking along a road in the hills. He seems to be a demolition guy, as he does it again later to blow up the bridge over the Neretva. (Oddly, that time the Plunger Detonator) is accompanied by a pew sound reminiscent of a ray gun.)
- Propaganda Piece: Not surprising since it was produced on Tito's orders. The fact that the Germans are not portrayed not quite as negatively as in earlier movies is part of the propaganda, since the movie was made at a time of Yugoslav-German rapprochement.
- Redubbing: All of the Western actors playing Slavs were dubbed out by native speakers.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: It is not portrayed in a positive light. After Danica is killed, Stipe picks up a light machine gun and guns down dozens of surrendered Cetniks before his commander stops him.
- Stuka Scream: Heard as Stukas bomb Yugoslav civilian refugees.
- Tanks, but No Tanks: The German tanks in the movie are a mix of Shermans and T-34s, some of which have been modified to resemble German Tigers. In the real battle, the Germans employed only captured French tanks (Hotchkiss H39s).
