The Third Half

The movie was inspired by the true story of a football team with the backdrop of second world war. It is all about the football revolution in a small country in the south-eastern Europe. The movie kinda reminds me 'Montevideo' which is also tells about the country's dream to participate in the first edition of the football world cup. More or less both the stories sets in the same era with a decade or two difference.

The opening was very similar to 'Madrasapattinam' where a woman in her 70s wants to go back to her native place in Europe. So she leave the States with her granddaughter and soon after arrived there she begins to re-encounters her flashbacks. She was the daughter of a wealthy man in the town who fall in love with a football player which is against her fathers will. But in the other side, inexperience football team is yet to register their first victory. So they hire a German coach to make the best club in the country. The team begins to show some positive sign but yet to face another difficulty when the country is occupied by the Nazi Germans. With all these troubles the team must rise from the ground.

No offence but frankly to say I never heard Macedonia before. From this beautiful movie I came to know it and hope same that it would reach every corners of the world. When it come to the movie, it tells the tale from certain aspect especially from that old woman and what she witnessed. There's other cruel side too where Hitler's Administration kills many Jews which is not in the movie. The filmmakers avoided the cruelty portions of the story and portrayed only from young love and the team's perspective. Still there are couple killing scenes and a half nude in it.

The end speech was very good. When I thought the end was very usual, the powerful lines spoken by the lead female made movie further stronger to end. Yeah that one was indeed very good and it explains the meaning of title very well.

8/10

embroidery of stories. slice of history. joy, love, ambition, passion. and the war. changing all. a great film for the fine recreation of atmosphere. for the good intentions. for the sketch of love story. for the passion for football in coherent manner. like many films from the East, a form of exorcism. not real surprising. because the art is tool for old testimonies about pain, injustice, hope, small victories. and this is the motif for see The Third Halv. more as a collection of old photos than example of acting. because remains the impression of fear of actors to assume in real manner, the roles. sure, an explanation could be the absence of artistic skills. but important remains the authenticity of scenes from a lost Macedonia and the stories of this in many ways, ignored land.this is the essence of the work of Darko Mitrevski. and it is an admirable work.

In Macedonia, during World War II, a football team hires a German coach to improve its results. But the war will son caught up with the team, as the German-allied Bulgarian army invades the country. Sasko Kocev stars as Kosta, a handsome if a somewhat rakish footballer. Kosta pursues the beautiful Rebecca (Katarina Ivanovska), the daughter of Don Raphael (veteran actor Rade Serbezidja), a wealthy Jewish businessman. Richard Sammer is Spitz, the German trainer, who is persecuted by the authorities after they find he is a Jew (this is based on a real character, though many details were changed). The movie also covers a lot of political issues, like the Bulgarian-Macedonian rivalry, which I can't comment on deeply since it is a territory I'm quite unfamiliar with. This political aspect can be quite crude. For instance, all the Bulgarian characters look bad here, starting with the nasty General Gorvanov (a great performance of Emil Ruben). Overall, this is an entertaining film. Note: the former Yugoslavia seems to have cornered the market on period football films: some years ago, there was a fine Serbian film called Bog Te Video, about the Yugoslavian team that played in the 1930's World Cup.

No matter of the review that i'll write for all the viewers of the movie i think that if you are not Macedonian you won't get the point of this movie.The movie have strong behind and a message full of anger and revenge of what they where doing to Macedonia in the past.By revenge i mean that the director want the viewers to see how humiliating was the past for our people and how they apart our land and whit those a lot of families where separated,a lot of love stories where broken,a lot of dreams where gone.That's why i think this movie is something that describe us like a nation a history of people that survived this and now are only memories left for tell. About the actors i think that Sasko did well his role,but Karerina was week in some parts,i guess that's because this was her first movie.The songs in the movie are also very touchable part, and i think that there is no Macedonian who watched the movie and not get thrill all over her/his body.I recommend the movie for all, for me was great.

p.s Sorry if i have some grammar mistakes.

it is not easy to understand this film. because , more than a Makedonian story it is a confession from Balkans contemporary history, with deep roots, bitter at whole. at first sigh , it could be discovered as a nationalist film. or only a love story in war period. a film about soccer, about bad and good people, about abuses and about moral victories. in fact is only a subject for reflection. about past and about future. about myths and about reality. about a slice of world who has the force and courage and wise to be itself, again and again. it is a good movie. it is a beautiful one. but, more important, behind the acting, dialogs, images and script itself, it is a way to remember the pain of a land, the experience of people. that fact does " Treto poluvreme" real special. because it is a film of different languages and the same lives. so, see it ! see it without the desire to judge. only with the hope to understand.