Čaruga film

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Production year: 1991

Duration: 105 minuta

Technique: color

Genre:

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Director:
Grlić, Rajko

Production house:
Viba film (Ljubljana)
Maestro film
Hrvatska radiotelevizija

Camera:
Trninić Slobodan

Synopsis:
In 1918, after returning from the Russian front to his home in Slavonia, Jovo Stanisavljević Čaruga and his friend Mali join the bandit Božo Crveni, who, inspired by the October revolution, fights for a more just society. Soon the gendarmerie kills Božo, and Čaruga becomes the leader of the bandits. They are soon transformed into a gang of unscrupulous criminals who stop at nothing to get their hands on loot. Čaruga becomes rich, changes his identity and, pretending to be a successful merchant, befriends his fiercest enemy, the chief of police. In spite of this, the circle around the notorious thief tightens…

Cast:
Ivo Gregurević (Čaruga), Davor Janjić (Mali), Petar Božović (gendarmerie chief), Ena Begović (Svilena), Branislav Lečić (Božo Crveni), Branka Trlin-Matula (Manda), Dejan Aćimović, Filip Šovagović, Petar Arsovski, Nenad Stojanovski, Gojmir Lešnjak, Radko Polič (decadent landowner), etc.

Country of production:
Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (Socialist Republic of Croatia/Socialist Republic of Slovenia)

Screenplay:
Ivan Kušan, Rajko Grlić

Music by:
Goran Bregović

Edited by:
Andrija Zafranović

Set designer:
Željko Senečić

Costume designer:
Maja Galasso

Commentary:
With a budget of $1 million, this was the most expensive Croatian film of its time. The extensive budget ensured excellent production values - international standards of photography, luxurious set design and costumes, all of which added up to a convincing reconstruction of this historical moment. Rajko Grlić’s directing style is more fluid than ever, but the film suffers from a precariously balanced screenplay which causes the resolution of the plot to seem hasty, and almost all of the characters seem only sketchily developed. Additionally, linking the notorious outlaw Caruga to Communist revolutionaries, who have become a kind of metaphor for the character of any revolution, seems like a too-trendy critique of the Communist political regime that was falling apart at the time of the film’s production.

Other awards: Pula 1992 - Golden Arena for the best set design and costumes

Screening permit: April 11, 1991