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Sabirni centar Movie Review

Sabirni centar is a 1989 Serbian fantasy comedy film directed by Goran Markovic, written by Dusan Kovacevic and starring Bogdan Diklic among others. It’s very imaginative.

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“It’s a spaceship. It must be Russian.

Only the Russians have such technology“

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During the excavation of ancient Roman ruins, an old archaeology professor accidentally opens the gate between our world and the world of the dead. First and foremost, this is a very underappreciated, rarely talked about Serbian movie, which I why my expectations weren’t the highest. But it ended up surprising me not only in the overall quality, but in the sheer breadth of fantastical elements, rarely seen in the cinematic output of this country.

The storytelling is really strong, especially as it regards world building and thematic resonance. Unlike many Hollywood movies about the afterlife, this film actually delves deeper into the many problems, insecurities and fraught relationships between the living and the dead, and that is this story’s main strength. Yes, the world is incredible, but the people in it and their issues are very well thought out. It’s much deeper than it had any right to be.

There is a lot going on here not just in plot, but in personalities. There is a plethora of interesting characters here, so let’s discuss. Rade Markovic was to me the weakest of the actors as his Profesor Misa is rather weakly developed for the protagonist and his acting is just okay. Bogdan Diklic is one of the highlights as he was very well cast in an important role for the movie.

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Dragan Nikolic is excellent and among the funniest of the bunch as Janko. Of the women, Mirjana Karanovic is memorable in such a well realized role, but it is Olivera Markovic who shines as this very intriguing presence in the afterlife. Her scenes are among the best. And of course Danilo Stojkovic is fantastic per usual. It was very interesting seeing the fraught brotherly relationship between his character and his dead brother in the afterlife, and that is one of the movie’s most emotional storylines.

Where Sabirni centar excels at the most is the world building. The beginning was instantly iconic and the first scene where the professor walks into the afterlife was the type of amazing introduction to a fantasy world that I live for. The bright, sun-drenched photography and the ancient ruins make this world stand in stark contrast to the somewhat darker and less visually splendid world of the living. The contrast is beautifully achieved and the afterlife scenes are clearly the film’s major standouts.

I also really appreciated the tunnel scenes. It was interesting how they disposed of any clearly religious imagery due to the then current communist regime, but it is even more admirable how the movie was still rather imaginative and artistic despite this political and ideological hurdle in the country.

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Still though, there remains a problem with all Serbian films, and especially this one, which is the overly strong emphasis on humor. The humor here is just okay, it’s certainly nothing special. Thus, for such a dark tone, it stood like a sore thumb to have so much lightweight humor. This is the movie that would have benefited from an entirely serious, dramatic instead of comedic approach. The direction and the writing are still great as is the dialogue, but I wanted less humor myself.