Ljeto u zlatnoj dolini

"Ljeto u zlatnoj dolini" or 'Summer in the Golden Valley' as it is called in English is a very dark and grim movie. It certainly isn't a feel-good movie, but the story that it tells feels very authentic and realistic.

It's about a teenage boy Fikret, who lives in post-war Sarajevo, where drugs, crime and corruption are the most important parts of life. He sniffs glue to escape from reality and all he really wants is to step on one of the airplanes that fly over the city, so he can fly away to a better world. His family has a hard time making a living and his father has just died. A man comes to the funeral and says that the father owed him a lot of money and that he wants it back. Because they don't have any money, the son will have to do some crimes... Than a corrupt cop asks him to help with the kidnapping of a girl, the daughter of some very rich people. If he and a friend hide the girl and take care of her, they will receive a lot of money. At first all they want is the money, but gradually Fikret falls in love with her...

As I already said, this story will not really make you feel good, but that certainly doesn't mean this isn't a good movie. OK, it isn't really a masterpiece, but the actors did a fine job, the story is very good and believable and the way everything was shot is more than just OK. This movie is really something for you when you are interested in very realistic and far from corny dramas. Also when you are interested in how life in the Balkan now is, this may be the movie for you to watch. Personally I liked what I saw and I give it a 7.5/10

The movie is a poor attempt to place the chaos, anarchy and hopelessness that perhaps is a day-life in Belgrade into the streets of Sarajevo. True Bosnians (of all religions!) are people with unprecedented moral, faith sense of humor and optimism that helped them survive the years of siege and continuous murders by Serbian destructor from the surrounding mountains. Don't get fooled, this movie does NOT reflect the Bosnian reality! In my view this is a nicely packed, well hidden cuckoo's egg from the pro-Serbian propaganda. What a waste of time and money, considering the limited number of Bosnian movies produced annually. If you want true picture of post-war Bosnia, watch Well Tempered Corpses. But I challenge the film artist's courage to tell the true stories of people's tragedy and suffering during the years of aggression. Use historic facts, such as genocide in Srebrenica, concentration camps in Dretelj, Omarska, to name a few, as a base for your stories, not some imaginary and besides utterly wrong scenarios that fit with the perceived state of despair in a post-war society.

This film is the best piece of cinema I have had the pleasure of seeing in a very, very long time, period. I enjoyed every minute of it! Yes, it beats the hell out of No Man's Land, my fellow reviewer! It's powerful, eloquent, entertaining and with a great sense of humor. Together with Rane and Normalni Ljudi (two Serbian equivalents), it shows amazing vitality of the people living in the Balkans. The strength to make laugh at its own expense and its stupidity that caused fratricidal carnage of the 90's. It is a true art at its best.

The very fact that films of such quality are consistently coming out of this "backward region" are the best sign that all is not lost, just yet.

The film is really very good as it brings local actors and presents a crude reality of Sarajevo. It shows a city that still suffers the harmful effects of a recent war. Several ingredients are present to prove this:police corruption, kidnappings,urban violence, drug consumption and lack of perspectives. The film unveils all these elements in a very meaningful way through a boy who needs to dignify his family traditions and honour his father. The city landscape is also shown in the film and this makes it more interesting as people will be able to observe Sarajevo. The big question that the film presents is: how to survive/live in such an environment,dominated by post war scarfs,secular tradition and brand new western influences?

This movie is brilliant.I've never watched a movie which has so much black humour.The story and the behavior of each character in this movie is realistic.I know it, I live'd there.Now i come to the story:

Fikret Varupa would be a totally ordinary sixteen year old boy from Sarajevo had it not been for an incredible stroke of bad luck. At the traditional Muslim funeral service for his father, he learns that his father owes money to Hamid, a man he does not even know. The debt is considerable and Hamid does not want it to go to the grave with the body, so the debt automatically passes from the father to the son. Since in Bosnia this way of collecting debts, at a funeral, is considered to be utterly humiliating, it is never, ever applied. Fikret and his entire family become subjects of ridicule. Fikret, who is practically still a child, is decisive to "redeem his father's soul". Wishing to repay his father's debt and to secure the forgiveness, Fikret wanders into the real world of Sarajevo, the world that is ruled by post-war chaos, misery and poverty and becomes an ideal target for two corrupted policemen who wish to "help" him: they plant the kidnapped girl on him.

This movie everybody have to watch.I love it