''Life Is a Miracle'' ( sr, Život je čudo / Живот је чудо) is a
Serbian drama film directed by
Emir Kusturica
Emir Kusturica ( sr-cyrl, Емир Кустурица; born 24 November 1954) is a Serbian film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and musician. He also has French citizenship.http://www.serbia.com/emir-kusturica-artist-builder-and-anti-glo ...
in 2004. It was entered into the
2004 Cannes Film Festival
The 57th Cannes Film Festival started on 12 and ran until 23 May 2004 in film, 2004. The Palme d'Or went to the United States, American film ''Fahrenheit 9/11'' by Michael Moore.
The festival opened with ''Bad Education (2004 film), La mala educa ...
.
It received nomination at the
Golden Eagle Award in 2005 for
Best Foreign Language Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
.
Plot
The film opens just as construction has been completed on a railway connecting mountainous regions of eastern
Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
and western
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
in 1992. Luka, a Serbian engineer, has moved to Bosnia from
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
with his mentally unstable wife, Jadranka, and his football-playing son, Miloš, to run a railway station and act as caretaker. Luka is at work preparing the opening of the railway while Miloš attempts to become a professional footballer with the Partizan team. Utterly engrossed in his work and blinded by natural optimism, Luka remains deaf to the increasingly persistent rumblings of war, which has broken out in Croatia and threatens to spread.
When the conflict explodes, Miloš is denied his place on the football field when he is enlisted into the
Serbian army
The Serbian Army ( sr-cyr, Копнена војска Србије, Kopnena vojska Srbije, lit=Serbian Land Army) is the land-based and the largest component of the Serbian Armed Forces.
History
Originally established in 1830 as the Army of Pr ...
, and Jadranka disappears on the arm of a Hungarian musician. Eventually, Luka receives news that Miloš has been taken
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...
. Luka considers suicide, but a profiteering acquaintance presents him with Sabaha, a
Bosnian Muslim
The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry, cu ...
whom he has taken hostage.
Luka intends to exchange Sabaha for Miloš, but the two fall in love after they are forced to flee deeper into Serb-controlled territory. When a UN-enforced prisoner exchange is finally arranged, Luka and Sabaha try to escape to Serbia at an attempt to cross the
Drina river
The Drina ( sr-Cyrl, Дрина, ) is a long Balkans river, which forms a large portion of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Alps whic ...
, but Sabaha is wounded by a Bosnian sniper after squatting to urinate behind a tree. Army nurses narrowly manage to save Sabaha's life, and she is exchanged for Miloš, along with other prisoners. Jadranka also returns, and the family is reunited in their old home, but Luka is lovesick. He lies down in front of a train, but when the train stops to avoid running over a mule, it is revealed that Sabaha is on board, and the two ride away on the mule.
Cast
*
Slavko Štimac
Slavko Štimac ( sr-cyrl, Славко Штимац; born 15 October 1960) is a Serbian actor.
Born in a village near Perušić in modern-day Croatia, he later graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. Štimac made his screen debut ...
– Luka
*
Nataša Šolak – Sabaha
*
Vesna Trivalić – Jadranka
*
Goran Jevtić - Mitar
*
Vuk Kostić
Vuk Kostić ( sr-cyr, Вук Костић; born 22 November 1979) is a Serbian actor. He is famous for his roles in movies '' Apsolutnih 100'', '' Stvar srca'', "Ubice mog oca" and ''Klopka''.
Private life
He is the son of actor Mihajlo Kosti ...
– Miloš
*
Aleksandar Berček
Aleksandar Berček ( sr-cyr, Александар Берчек; born 4 September 1950) is a Serbian actor. He performed in more than one hundred films since 1971. He graduated at the Academy for theater, film, radio and television. He was the dir ...
– Veljo
*Stribor Kusturica – Captain Aleksić
*
Nikola Kojo
Nikola Kojo (; born 5 September 1967) is a Serbian actor and film director.
Biography
Nikola was named after his great-grandfather, who was an protoiereus in Mostar. He made his acting debut before he turned 13, with the role of the boy Ivan in ...
– Filipović
*
Mirjana Karanović
Mirjana Karanović ( sr-cyr, Мирјана Карановић; born 28 January 1957) is a Serbian actress, film director and screenwriter. Considered one of the best Serbian and Yugoslavian actresses of all time, she is probably the best known f ...
– Nada
*Branislav Lalević – President
*Obrad Djurović – Vujan
See also
*
List of most expensive Serbian films
This is a non-definitive list of most expensive non-English-language films, with budgets given in United States dollars. Only films with budgets exceeding US$30 million are listed here.
Where the source gives the budget in the native currency, co ...
*
Drvengrad
References
External links
*
*
*
Life Is a Miracleat
Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon.
History
Brandon Gray began ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Life Is A Miracle
2004 films
Films directed by Emir Kusturica
Serbian musical films
Serbo-Croatian-language films
Bosnian War films
2000s war comedy-drama films
Serbian war comedy-drama films
Films set in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Films set in Yugoslavia
Films produced by Alain Sarde
2000s musical comedy-drama films
2004 comedy films
2004 drama films