''Silent Gunpowder'' ( sh, Gluvi barut) is a 1990 Yugoslav

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by Bato Čengić, starring

Mustafa Nadarević Mustafa Nadarević (2 May 1943 – 22 November 2020) was a Bosnian and Croatian actor. Widely considered one of the greatest actors from the former Yugoslavia, he starred in over 70 films, including '' The Smell of Quinces'' (1982), ''When Father ...

Branislav Lečić Branislav Lečić ( sr-Cyrl, Бранислав Лечић; born 25 August 1955) is a Serbian actor, director, academic, writer, politician. Known for his versatile portrayals of emotionally vulnerable characters with strong senses of moral justic ...

Fabijan Šovagović Fabijan Šovagović (4 January 1932 – 1 January 2001) was a Croatian film, television and theatre actor, and writer. Biography Šovagović was born in the village of Ladimirevci, in the Slavonia region of Croatia, then Kingdom of Yugoslavia. H ...

Mira Furlan Mira Furlan (7 September 1955 – 20 January 2021) was a Croatian actress and singer. Internationally, she was best known for her roles as the Minbari Ambassador Delenn in the science fiction television series ''Babylon 5'' (1993–1998), and as ...

Boro Stjepanović Borislav "Boro" Stjepanović (born 8 May 1946 in Vareš, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Bosnian film, theater and television actor. He has played in over 50 films since the 1960s, most notably in '' Sjećaš li se Doli Bel'', ' ...

and Josip Pejaković.

Plot

Based on a novel by

Branko Ćopić Branko Ćopić ( sr-cyrl, Бранко Ћопић, ; 1 January 1915 – 26 March 1984) was a Serbian, Bosnian and Yugoslavian writer. He wrote poetry, short stories and novels, and became famous for his stories for children and young adults, oft ...

and set during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the film tells the story of a

Bosnian Serb The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sr-Cyrl, Срби у Босни и Херцеговини, Srbi u Bosni i Hercegovini) are one of the three constitutive nations (state-forming nations) of the country, predominantly residing in the politi ...

village in the mountains of Bosnia and its villagers who found themselves divided along two opposing

ideological An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied prim ...

lines in the face of the Axis

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity aggressively enter territory (country subdivision), territory owned by another such entity, gen ...

and subsequent occupation of the country, represented by the royalist Chetniks and the communist Partisans. These two opposing sides are personified in the Partisan commander nicknamed Španac (lit. "Spaniard", played by

) and a former Royal Army officer Miloš Radekić (played by

). Španac sees Radekić as the cause of villagers' resistance to the new communist ideology, and so the main plot revolves around the conflict between them.

Cast

Awards

*At the 1990

Pula Film Festival Pula Film Festival ( hr, Pulski filmski festival) is an annual Croatian film festival, established in 1954. It is held in a Roman amphitheater known as the Pula Arena. Pula Film Festival is the oldest Croatian film festival and is usually held ...

(the Yugoslavian version of the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

), the film won the

Big Golden Arena The Golden Arena awards were established in 1955 as the Yugoslav national film awards presented annually at the Pula Film Festival in Pula, Croatia, with the Big Golden Arena for Best Film its main prize. From 1955 to 1990 the awards were the Yu ...

for Best Film, as well as the awards for ''Best Actor in a Leading Role'' (Branislav Lečić), ''Best Film Score'' (

Goran Bregović Goran Bregović (born 22 March 1950) is a recording artist from Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Slavic-speaking countries in the Balkans, and is one of the few former Yug ...

), and ''Best Makeup'' (Snježana Tomljenović). *The film was also shown at the

17th Moscow International Film Festival The 17th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 8 to 19 July 1991. The Golden St. George was awarded to the Soviet-German film '' Spotted Dog Running at the Edge of the Sea'' directed by Karen Gevorkian. Jury * Oleg Yankovsky (Soviet ...

, where both Branislav Lečić and Mustafa Nadarević won the Silver St. George Award for their performances.

References

External links

* 1990 films Films scored by Goran Bregović Films set in Bosnia and Herzegovina Films set in Yugoslavia Serbo-Croatian-language films Yugoslav war drama films Jadran Film films 1990s war drama films 1990 drama films Films directed by Bato Čengić War films set in Partisan Yugoslavia Yugoslav World War II films {{war-drama-film-stub