Acting
In a post-WWII Yugoslavia still under Stalinist rule in the 1950s, six-year-old Malik is oblivious as to why his father, Mehmed, has suddenly disappeared. In truth, Mehmed has been sent to a labor camp as punishment for acts of sexual indiscretion involving young girls. Malik's mother, Senija, however, has no answers, and the family must cope in the father's absence.
A profoundly empathetic, unpretentious and droll account of a how a swarthy, Hemingway-like sailor upends the droning routines of a nursing home when he checks himself in. Though his subtle interactions with the other residents – including his cantankerous roommate who obviously harbours resentment towards his family for putting him out to seed – the sailor gently whisks up an atmosphere of hope and happiness and allows the movie to deliver its beautifully simple message: that life should be savoured until the bitter end.
