Uncle Sheba's Western Chevapchi. 'Walter Defends Sarajevo' is a cult film. But at the same time, there is nothing in it that, in fact, a variety of aesthetes and film lovers love cinema. Quite simple, if not primitive, plot. Smelly acting. Characters are marked by broad, rough strokes. There is no bright psychologism, heartbreaking drama, hidden meanings and subsenses.
This is a movie about the tough man Walter (aka Vladimir Perich, a real historical figure), his comrades and their struggle with the occupiers, shot in the style of an adventure action movie. Or even a western in the spirit of Sergio Corbucci and all Westerns in general. Yugoslavia, unlike most other socialist countries, was not hostile to the West and maintained close contacts with foreign filmmakers. With the United States, Italy, Germany, a lot of joint films were shot, and therefore it is not surprising that some receptions from colleagues of Yugoslavia were still watched, throwing the seeds of other people’s developments on the fertile soil of their native land.
The whole layer of Yugoslav military cinema is united only by guerrilla themes, but stylistically the films were different. There were dramatic stories about the courage of the people and their tragedy: ' Igman March', ' End of War' Epic films that Marshal Tito loved - they specialized, for example, Velko Bulajic and Zhivorad & #39; Zhika & #39; Mitrovic. Such tapes usually reflected particularly significant battles, popular foreign actors were often prescribed for central roles, and the number of extras there reached absolutely prohibitive values. Imagine some Lord of the Rings, only instead of giant armies of people, elves, orcs and others - battalions of German (Italian, sometimes Bulgarian) occupiers, huge guerrilla formations of the People's Liberation Army, and somewhere on the side detachments of various bearded Chetniks, vile Ustashas and even some Albanian nationalists from 'Ballé Kombetar' Instead of bows, swords and spears - machine guns and rifles, instead of shining armor - pilots with red stars and cartridge ribbons over the shoulder, instead of landscapes of New Zealand (Middle-Earth) - Balkan fields, forests, rivers and mountains. By the way, this category of films is the least loved by me and, despite the scope, is rather monotonous and boring. They filmed Yugoslavs and comedies about the war. And then there were the films of Khayrudin Krvatz.
Krvac himself took part in the People’s Liberation War in Yugoslavia and, moreover, was in the detachment of the same & #39; Walter & #39; Peric, about whom he subsequently made this film. Maybe that’s why the movie turned out like this. The horrors and tragedies of Shebe (the partisan nickname Krvac, glued to him for life), must have been more than enough in the war, so that in his work he was rather guided by the principle of showing the heroism of the defenders, including his former commander, and to do it in a spectacular entertaining form. By the way, Khayrudin did not have a special cinematographic education as such.
The lead actor Velimir 'Bata' Živoinović (naturally an icon of guerrilla cinema), who, if I am not mistaken, holds the record as the Serbian actor with the most roles in movies, in an interview recalled that Krvac did not ask him for anything there ' to play' That is why Walter in the film is focused, severe, does not reflect, does not whine, does not ask philosophical questions. And although he may sometimes smile and joke, even in battle, he is above all a warrior who has a clear purpose and with whom he moves an inexorable iron trek. The character is good cardboard in the film. Although his comrade-in-arms performed by Ljubiša Samardžić (guerrilla film icon No. 2, who very often played with Živoinovich in pairs) was more emotional and cheerful in contrast to the phlegmatic Walter. The film itself is full of action to betray. Realism, of course, did not even sleep here. One runaway queue of MP-40s from our brave heroes - and a crowd of Krauts falls dead in an alley with Nazi hari in the dust. Explosions of trains, chases through the narrow streets of Sarajevo, muzzle-palba-murdo-firing. There are elements of a spy film, but in general it is an action movie, even reminiscent of films with Schwartz, but at the same time shot ... long before the films with Schwartz. Interestingly, in 'Walter...' played his first small role as Emir Kusturica. And moreover, it was Krvac who gave advice to the future iconic director to enter the film academy, since the young Emir was depressed by the lack of good films about love in Yugoslav cinema and complained about it ' Uncle Schebe'.
'Walter Defends Sarajevo' was, of course, very popular in Yugoslavia. He also went to the Soviet box office. But the most amazing thing is his wild popularity in China. 'Bata' Zhivoinovich not without pleasure recalled how during a visit to China, the actor was recognized even in the most deaf settlements, poked a finger and shouted ' Walter'. The musical theme of the film is very famous in China, many phrases from the film became winged there, there is even a beer & #39; Walter' with a photo of Zhivoinovich on the label. Unfortunately, the remarkable actor died in 2016 and his death in Russia was reported by few media. But if you watch YouTube videos of Bata’s funeral and programs dedicated to his memory, you can see many faces with a clear Asian appearance. The Chinese remember their hero decades later. There is another film Krvac with the same Zhivoinovich in the title role -' Bridge' (aka ' Following the Tiger'), also popular with the Chinese, but it was Walter who hit them the most.
What about the real Vladimir Peric? Alas, the valiant scout Walter died during the battles for the liberation of Sarajevo, before the surrender of Germany for about a miserable month. And so it turns out that his comrade made a seemingly simple and unremarkable film that immortalized the name of the hero and glorified him in the eyes of at least three hundred million Chinese. And not only them, because the picture was in the box office of sixty countries. It does not even matter that the military operation shown in the film is fictional, and the real Walter may not look like his movie incarnation. The main thing is that in modern cinema, full of various marginals, criminal scum, scum, degenerates, effeminate boys and masculine girls, sometimes such simple, normal heroes are lacking.