Life Is a Miracle (2004)

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Once again, this is the sort of movies that couldn't have been made by anyone other than Kusturica.The way he turned chaos into a carnival, apparently to trivialise the whole mess that was actually plaguing on in the war-torn Balkan state but indeed to embody the utter frustration never fails to amuse and spark off chains of dark humour. The way people tried to carry on their everyday life of cooking, sleeping, playing chess, making love, etc...with bombs exploding literally next door was so successful in boosting up the utmost sarcasm and satire of people's helplessness and bitter acceptance of war and death as an inseparable part of their lives. As is "When father's away on business", this apparently lyrical and musical comedy can't do much to hide the dark sides underneath. But as usual, Kusturica is also trying to bring the the same message - in the most horrific of times, there is still something called love for people to cling to and seek shelter under after all.

I do not understand any of the languages used in the film. No sub-titling. I didn't get the full story. It still was a joy to watch because of everything being unexpected and surprising. Is the film a caricature of life? It certainly is. It pulls our legs. Shows us the mirror. I am certain that Salvador Dali and Frederico Fellini would have enjoyed this film very much. Charlie Chaplin too? I think so. For someone who does not understand the language the film may be a bit long. However, it is absolutely impossible to stop the video player. The next surprise is just around the corner. The film made me think a bit of the Dutch movie "The Pointsman" (de wisselwachter). "Life is a Miracle" has more intensity, though.

This is the best Kusturica's film i have seen. I was very pleased and smiling when i got out of the cinema. It's is very nice to watch that, being always himself, the director was able to improve his style and understand the most powerful elements of each of his previous films, so this time he mixed the lightness and joy of "Crna macka, beli macor" (black cat white cat) with the seriousness and dramatic feelings of "underground".. plus a romance, which is truly explored for the first time in a Kusturica's film, and with high sensitivity i must say.So, in this one the scenery is a typical Black cat, a almost wild village near the serbia - bosnia border, where a railroad is being built, in the middle of a feeling of pre war. Here we find the main character, this humble man with a (devily insane) wife and a son. Things move forward and he looses both when she escapes with some Hungarian and he goes to war where becomes a prisoner. Than we have the last important character showing up, Sabaha (performed by a dazzling Natasa Solak, truly beautiful). Around this context Kusturica builds a very intense psychological diary of the man, who has constantly to decide whether to save his son or stay with his love (you'll understand how when you get to watch the film), as well as to deal with his returning wife vs his new lover. Better to observe that in the film than to talk about it. Apart from that you get a lot of Kusturica elements and typical way of making laugh, such as through a mule who is constantly trying to commit suicide in the railroads or the fantastic scene in the football game. In opposition to this you have this scene where Luka (main character) desperately grabs his son foot ball and cries over it. Powerful. Mixing the beautiful Balcan's landscapes and the ambiguous, but typical and enjoyable "no smoking" soundtrack and never loosing the posture of portraying ex yugoslavia social environment (like in the references to Tito, ex dictator of the balcans), kusturica creates this romantic but also dramatic comedy, which is the most difficult thing to put in films, as far as i observe. You have in this one that strange laughing/crying effect you find in for instance La Vita e bella or in most of Chaplin's movies. You spend the movie laughing but suddenly you feel very sad, and disturbed and understand you saw something sensitive and great...From time to time pace gets to slow and if the film was 15 min shorter it wouldn't be worst. Apart from that it's a powerful European creation. It's Kusturica for sure. 8/10

Talented forward Milos Djukic dreams of playing for Partizan Belgrado. But his dream shatters when the war between the Serbians and Bosnians escalates. He gets drafted by the Serbian army and must report for duty. Disaster strikes when he gets captures. The only way to free him is to trade him for a Bosnian nurse who's held captive at his fathers house.The least i can say about this movie is that is surprised me. Surprised by its drama, comedy, romance, absurdity.. Yes, this movie has it all. It combines all genres in a terrific mixture which interested me from the beginning until the end. Which is not an easy thing to do considering that this movie lasts two and a half hours. It gets along quite smoothly without real twists in the plot or having to accelerate 'cause there isn't a real climax this movie strives to (accept the obvious one, but thats not what this movie is really about). Don't expect to get blown away by this picture, it wont knock your socks off. It'll give you a nice, subtle, smooth ride for your money.8/10