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When Father Was Away on Business Movie Review

When Father Was Away on Business (Otac na sluzbenom putu) is a 1985 Yugoslav film directed by Emir Kusturica and starring Miki Manojlovic and Mirjana Karanovic. It’s quite good.

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“While the whole world is fucking,

you Muzafer just shower“

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Set in post-World War II Yugoslavia during the Informbiro period, the film tells the story from the perspective of a boy, Malik, whose father Meša was sent to a labor camp. First and foremost, this movie clearly requires some knowledge or at least some reading about this period from the viewer before seeing it as it is about a very specific, absolutely crazy period in this country’s history (late forties to mid fifties). This was when the communists had their different fractions, all related to the conflict with Russia and Stalin. Characterized as Titoism, it was a period marked with growing apathy and tension regarding the Soviet Union.

The film does require some knowledge beforehand for sure, but it depicts this period in history so well with a lot of great details and a particularly strong emphasis on politics and political as well as family conflicts, the latter obviously being more interesting and universal. The movie is also a definite coming-of-age story about a boy who gets separated from his father and who gets to experience all of this confusion and craziness.

Witnessing all of the film’s events through the innocent, naïve and clueless point of view of a child was very humorous and also a perfect fit for all modern viewers who themselves aren’t acquainted to this time period and may find the plot developments and the various communist slogans utterly ridiculous. Moreno de Bartoli was very good and memorable in the role that is by far the most interesting one. I also liked the inclusion of somnambulism in a rare magical realist part of an otherwise pretty straightforward early feature from Kusturica.

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Miki Manojlovic is very good and believable as simply terrible Mesa. He is a horrible man who cheats on his wife basically in front of her and at some point in the near vicinity of his kid. Although what happened to him was unfair, he as a person is terrible and the movie did not treat cheating as seriously as it should have, though we do see the plight of Sena in some heartbreaking scenes, all wonderfully performed by Mirjana Karanovic.

Others are all less memorable and Mira Furlan is also your typical mistress character, though she is a bit humanized near the end. One of the highlights is definitely Zijo, Sena’s brother. It was crazy how he would arrest his own brother-in-law for political reasons and the ending where he felt genuine remorse was the most emotionally powerful scene here, and another great proof of what a great actor Mustafa Nadarevic is.

Otac na sluzbenom putu lost some of its steam in its second half. I found the scenes in Zvornik somewhat repetitive and far less engaging than those in the first half. The first half was so energetic and so genuinely funny in its dialogue and narration that the second one became overly dramatic and sad. The tonal shifts and pacing should have been handled better.

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Still though, Kusturica’s direction is excellent and very elegant as always. The cinematography is good, but it is the score that is truly memorable and quite poignant in its melancholic tone. The movie is definitely very sophisticated and genuinely moving at times, but a stronger statement and narrative thread was non-existent.