Houston, We Have a Problem

In this captivating feature film debut from director Zhiga Virc you will find everything exciting: there is a covert agreement between John F. Kennedy and Josip Tito of Yugoslavia, disclosed top-secret documents, and international intrigue during the Cold War.

"Houston, We Have a Problem!" blurs the boundaries between reality and fiction as it delves into the mythology surrounding the start of America's race to be the first nation to send a man to the moon and the purported multibillion-dollar agreement behind America's acquisition of Yugoslavia's space program in the early 1960s.

This documentary film is a fascinating meta-examination of Cold War foreign diplomacy and myth-building, as well as the lies, manipulation, and dirty games that go into the construction of a national identity. It deftly combines archival footage with contemporary interviews with philosopher Slavoj Zhizhek and some of the key figures in the film's investigation, including a former Yugoslav space engineer, an American historian, and a retired Yugoslav People's Army general.

Perhaps after watching that, you will see why Yugoslavia was destroyed by bombardment.

Interesting piece of art!

While this documentary promised a deep look into a deal between Yugoslavia and the United States to transfer space technology to NASA, there is not enough new information presented to even fill a short magazine article. Most of the film is padded with stories about Yugoslavia's history, Tito and a single scientist from Yugoslavia who travels back to his home country for the first time in 50 years.

What little information is presented comes from an American historian who seems to be the only one in the documentary who speaks English. Subtitles are needed for most of the interviews in this film.

In any event, if you want to see a documentary that gives a passing mention to the Yugoslavian space program and more of a backstory into US-Yugoslavian relations from the 1960's to 1970's you may enjoy this. Beyond the first 30 minutes or so don't expect to learn much about NASA, the space program or what this title is supposed to focus on.

If this movie is true, that would explain many things. Being a Bosnian Serbian, I tried to be as unbiased and as objective as possible. I enjoyed the movie, found some answers I had had since I was a kid, and in the end felt extremely sad. It's a good documentary, with lots of genuine videos and recordings of phone calls. Definitely recommended.

"Houston We have a Problem" started with an interesting enough concept through a documentary/narrative/fictional structure and strategy in order to deliver a certain idea, which in the end becomes a kind of clinical allegory about the disintegration of Yugoslavia – trying to be entertaining and funny while at it. Until the last third of the film, it was interesting, I admit, and intriguing where it would end up. By the end it was somewhat disgusting by the shallowness of its "irony," given the tragedy it depicts.

Zizek's usual overcooked but useless philosophical platitudes ring even more hollow than usual in this context – although he did have some funny lines in the beginning (yeah, and the socks, whatever).

It may be an interesting film for a disengaged and clueless audience, who were not affected by the history depicted in this film (or similar experiences in other parts of the world) – but imagine making such a clinical allegory of another, more "relevant" "country disintegration war" or even (gasp) genocide – take your pick – Israel, Palestine, Syria, Libya, etc. -- the filmmaker would maybe be more vilified/ostracized/banished than celebrated for his "cleverness." If you want an effective allegory of what happened with Yugoslavia, watch Tanovic's Oscar winner "No Man's Land," or even better, Kenovic & co.'s SaGA films (google it) – from that part of the world, Bosnians are much better and more interesting storytellers and record keepers than Slovenians (and much funnier, too – for full disclosure, I am not Bosnian and I don't subscribe to ethnic disparagement or similar).

PS. It's not really a "1" more like a "5" rating, but just to counter this ridiculous overrated extravaganza here.

So well put together story that one think it could have happened...