Ljeto u zlatnoj dolini (2003) User Reviews

A very realistic and humane drama that is far from corny

[philip_vanderveken · 8/10 · 26 January 2005]

"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

No Future for Sarajevo?

[RobK-2 · 9/10 · 2 February 2004]

I saw this film at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. It's the first feature film of director Srdjan Vuletic. Vuletic, who was present at the screening, described the film as an ode to the city he loves: Sarajevo. The film's main character is young glue-sniffing Fikret. It's cynical to see that even in a world ruled by post-war chaos 'decadent' western influences are everywhere. Fikret dresses the way the gangster rappers dress in American rap videos shown on MTV. When Fikret's father dies a man appears at the funeral announcing that the father owes him a large sum of money. Muslim honor demands it should be paid before Fikret's father soul can rest in peace. After a unsuccessful attempt to rob an all-night supermarket Fikret's is contacted by a corrupt cop, who also happens to be the father of a girl he fancies. The cop has kidnapped a rich man's daughter and is using Fikret to hide her. In return he will help Fikret to pay off his debt. From here on the film shifts from an social-realistic drama to an exciting thriller against the background of the intense poverty of war-battered Sarajevo. Strangely enough this is not a depressing movie. At times it's quite funny and towards the end if offers some glimpses of hope. The fact that such an powerful and convincing story can be filmed with a great cast of local talents is certainly hopeful. I think we are gonna hear a lot more of director Vuletic.

Better than City of God, Rane or Cabaret Balkan

[momisan · 10/10 · 22 April 2006]

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 emergence of post war

[ambitten · 28 September 2004]

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?

Excellent

[Poturak · 10/10 · 20 September 2006]

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

A huge setback after "No Man's Land"

[kicco · 1/10 · 13 February 2004]

**** SPOILERS ALERT!!! ****

Exactly at a point where one can find some hope for post-war Bosnian cinematography, "Ljeto u zlatnoj dolini" happens.

This movie has no boundaries, it is packed with unnecessary and unwanted amount of curses and bad language (coming from mouths of 16-year-olds, and trust me, South Park is nothing compared to this), and generally lack of any taste (and art) is written all over.

Although the confusing story can be bought (somehow), the characters are miserable. We have a kid on the street, and in normal life those kids have vocabulary of 50 words max, who in one sentence raps that he is going to f*ck everything and everybody, and in the next one finds himself in deep philosophic thinking...

Even though there are still illegal weapons in Sarajevo, to think that, again a 16 yo kid, can take a machine gun and shoot a couple of rounds all over some grocery shop in the middle of the city it is totally ridiculous (by the way, where did he have it before that scene, in his jacket???). It is simply not realistic.

However, the worst things of all are how VuletiÄ? describes Bosnian police, and the scene where Bosnian flag is replaced with pants. If the director intended to express his protest on current situation in his country: it was a very bad one, and personally, as a citizen of B&H - I am offended by such disrespect of Bosnian flag.

"Ljeto u zlatnoj dolini" is not Bosnia, this is not Sarajevo, and these are not Sarajevans, it has too much Hollywood in it, and that just spoils everything.

With all respect to SrÄ'an VuletiÄ?, I believe this movie is a major setback after Oscar-awarded "No Man's Land", and we can do much, much better.

Great movie!!!

[truwarrior · 10/10 · 24 January 2006]

I think this is a great movie. I watched it for the second time the other day and I liked it even better than before. I like the ability of the director to mix different genres very smoothly. The film starts as a social drama than turns into triller turns into love store and in the end turns into great action film. All that with great dose of humor. This is maybe the only Bosnian contemporary film that deals with present times, real people with real problems. And when it comes to depicting the reality of our society this film is literary unmatched. The actors are fine, cinematography is great, and fx scenes - yes, there are some scenes with fx in Bosnian movie - are fantastic. The only problem I have with the film is rhythm as from time to time from very fast scenes we go directly to very slow scenes and somewhere it doesn't work quite well. But, in the end, I hearty recommend it.

Dialogue is just awful

[byxl · 3/10 · 21 December 2005]

Dialogue is just awful- slang invented for the purpose of this movie, but never really spoken in my country! This movie has the most embarrassing dialogue I ever had a misfortune of seeing in Bosnian cinema. Though I'm a Bosnian myself, and since my country is making just a few movies annually, I know how important it is for the movies made by our cinema to have a full support of our native audience, but I just couldn't like it. Dialogue is a poor copy of Serbian new generation movies like "Rane", "Do koske" etc. Storyline looked promising, atmosphere was O.K., but other than that it was really, really bad! Don't watch it, especially if you are a foreign language viewer, 'cause you might actually believe this is how Bosnian youth talks. I rated the movie with the grade 3, and I think I was being generous!

funny, sad, realistic, emotional

[NijazBaBs · 10/10 · 27 February 2021]

This movie shows real experience of post war city and country. It not only shows problems and irony typical to such city, but also some generic problems in life. Poverty, hope, love, trust and betrayal, faith, effort... It has really all in one. Also funny and cool action of police and mafia. Filthy language which is funny and real for such place in real life too. Hot girls, good actors, good smaller typical things of the society who lives at the bottom (in poverty and problems). I am amazed, touched by emotions, and easily recognize all such lifestyles even today, in same place, and this is funny and sad at the same time. No fake stuff.

This movie is today's Belgrade and Serbia, not Bosnia

[marko23432 · 2/10 · 9 April 2007]

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.

I did not like it that much as other reviewers.

[petarmatic · 5/10 · 24 October 2014]

I read other reviews on this film, I saw that people liked this film, but for some reason I did not.

First of all, I think that plot is not that realistic even for Sarajevo of those times. These things do not really happen in a small city like Sarajevo for a long period of time. I think that such a plot would of been foiled within a half of a day in Sarajevo.

Acting is very good, most of these actors are actors with many awards from various film festivals, and I think if Bosnia was the USA they would be very popular actors with many Hollywood roles.

Directing is excellent and it resembles action films made with a high budget. I hope that director Vuletic gets opportunity to direct in the future.