La polveriera

"Cabaret Balkan" comes at you like fangs on a snapping Doberman with is finely tuned and well crafted display of anger. An apparent cry of despair for the current social, economic, and political state of the Balkans, an open and festering wound on the face of the world, "Cabaret Balkan" actually shows little violence and almost no gore. What is does show is nonstop rage. A "Magnolia-esque" format with numerous characters in unrelated situations in lieu of a homogenous story, "Cabaret Balkan" trades plot for purpose and substance for effect. However, its sheer drama, the power of its performances, and the superb acting by a relatively unknown cast make this film pound-for-pound and dollar-for-dollar more powerful, gripping, and compelling than anything to come out of Hollywood in recent years.

Very bleak and disturbing movie ridden with dark symbolism and utterly depressing resolutions. But what else would you expect from a film depicting a day in Belgrade on the eve of NATO's bombing campaign against Serbia. It is a great film though, but which deals with the dakrest subject matter, focusing on a society in the throws of agony, continuous degradation of the social fabric, and erosion of humanity under extreme conditions.

You can accuse it of being pretentious, self-indulging, or of trying to cover its supposed lack of substance by overwhleming use of violence, but you are living *here* in your cozy apartments, with your salaries and plentiful consumer goods while many people *there* actually experienced the life that is depicted in this movie. "Cabaret Balkan" is one gutwrenching scream of anguish and despair in the face of the harsh reality that people had to endure, and still do, judging by the latest news from Yugoslavia.

This movie impressed me a lot, however the fine details and message of this movie might very easily escape the unwary viewer. I was lucky to watch the movie with a friend from Ex-Yugoslavia who could point out what exactly lied behind every small gesture or circumstantial hints hidden in a single sentence.

The characters in this movie are in a constant dilemma, half self-inflicted, half caused by higher powers. Yugoslavia at that time is isolated - mentally, economically, morally. There is no valve to let of the steam, so the people take on themselves, murdering, plundering, threatening and raping. Almost every character is shown to be not fully guilty, but nevertheless brought down by their own acts of violence. The bus scene especially shows that the Yugoslavian people have forgotten to take their fate in their own hands. A young men is fed up with the system, his wasted life and the apathy of his people in general. The best scene in the movie for me

Tragic-comically ends this scene like the whole movie. The whole plot takes place one day before the Dayton agreement, another twist of fate, that just on this day those people lose their lives for nothing and absolutely nothing.

When you watch this movie you have to realize the deeper message has been made for the Yugoslavian audience to show them the mechanizations of their lives and their own guilt going with it. He tries to hammer this in the minds of the viewers hence the compressed plot and intermingling of scenes. A masterpiece.

There are so few movies out there of this caliber. Though certainly a visceral movie, there is a feeling of connectedness with the characters that (though somewhat negated by the foreign language) makes this more than just an intense viewing. Sure, at the end, I breathed a sigh of relief and let go of the knot in my stomach, but the best part of this movie is its study of human nature on the edge. What makes this movie so awful to watch is not that the characters can be so evil, but that you know that they aren't inherently so. Please go see this movie now.

In one night the 1990s, in Beograd, many violent acts happen almost simultaneously, having as a `touching point' linking all of them the presence of a cab driver. A car crash, a vengeance against a former policeman, a harsh dialog between two boxers friends, a paranoid man in a bus, the anger of a lover against the former passion of his mate, the jealousy of a boy friend, all of these feelings are the motive for an outburst of violence from locals. The Brazilian title (`Powder Keg') metaphorically defines the state-of-mind of the civilian population, ready to explode in a city without law in times of war. I liked the screenplay, the direction and performance of the cast of this low budget movie. However, living in Rio de Janeiro, this black humor theme does not surprise me. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): `Barril de Pólvora' (`Powder Keg')