TITO AND ME Movie Review

Tito i Ja
Tito and I

If you've ever looked at old newsreels in which the schoolchildren living under repressive regimes line up to adoringly smile and wave to their fascist leader, you might have wondered what was actually going through their little heads at that very moment. This remarkable but sadly neglected picture by Goran Markovic—which holds the distinction of being the very last film to claim Yugoslavia as its country of origin—is set in the Belgrade of 1954. A captivating, chubby, perpetually hungry 10-year-old named Zoran has a crush on 12-year-old Jasna, but he can't get next to her because Jasna's too busy being obsessed with her leader, her idol and her hero, Comrade Tito. Zoran hopes she'll notice him if he sings the praises of their fearless leader loudly enough, so he writes an essay for school on “Why I Love Tito.” Not only does his essay win a prize, it assures him a place in the upcoming “Children's Walk through Comrade Tito's Country,” during which his hope of being noticed by Jasna leads to a series of mishaps that will change the little boy's life—and beliefs—forever. Dimitrie Vojnov gives an extraordinary performance as young Zoran in one of the most effortlessly profound, wise, and witty political comedies of the decade.

NEXT STOP … When Father Was Away on Business, Hey, Babu Riba, Underground

1992 104m/C YU Dimitrie Vojnov, Lazar Ristovski, Anica Dobra, Predrag Manojlovic, Olivera Markovic; D: Goran Markovic; W: Goran Markovic; C: Radoslav Vladic; M: Zoran Simjanovic. VHS FXL, FCT