Name: Retro Film Review: Marshal Tito's Spirit (Maršal, 1999)
Item: Marshal Tito's Spirit
Rating: 70
Author: @drax

(source:tmdb.org)

There are very few instances when films look like they were tailor-made for their times. Last place where you could expect to see something like that was Croatia in 1990s. Croatian films were burdened with low budgets, censorship and, last but not least, insufficient talents of their makers. Marshal Tito's Spirit (also known as Maršal), 1999 comedy directed by Vinko Brešan, was burdened with many of those problems, but those flaws were compensated with the perfect sense of timing.

The story begins in the setting very much like the one used for Brešan's previous box office hit How the War Started on My Island. Small island off the Croatian Adriatic coast has been quiet and uneventful place for a long time, but it isn't any more. Stipan (played by Dražen Kühn), a policeman who had grown up there, comes from mainland to investigate some mysterious events. At first nobody among the locals wants to tell him what is really going on but he gradually learns that the island is being apparently haunted by the spirit of Josip Broz Tito, legendary Communist leader of former Yugoslavia. News begins to spread and island becomes besieged by Tito's elderly supporters who want to see their beloved Marshal. Luka (played by Ivo Gregurević), island's anti-Communist mayor and nouveau riche who had bought all the valuable real estate at rock bottom prices, sees another opportunity for quick buck and starts to transform island into theme park for Yugonostalgics. Old Communists, led by former Party boss Marinko Čičin (played by Ilija Ivezić), have other ideas - they don't believe in afterlife or ghosts; for them the apparition is actually real flesh and blood Tito who returned from the long exile in order to start another Communist revolution. Situation on the island becomes tense while Stipan desperately tries to solve the mystery and prevent escalation of violence.

In Commmunist days Ivo Brešan, scriptwriter of this film, made a reputation by challenging official dogmas. His son Vinko continued the family tradition in his films and challenged new, this time Croatian nationalist, dogmas. He never did it as explicitly as in Marshal Tito's Spirit, though. This film gives very critical portrayal of post-Communist Croatia, especially their anti -Communist leaders like President Tudjman who nominally rejected Communism while keeping much of its authoritarian legacy, including Tito-style personality cult. In 1990s this comparison between the two leaders required great deal of courage. Fortunately for its makers, Marshal Tito's Spirit appeared in Croatian cinemas just as President Tudjman was dying and only couple of months before the elections that would remove his party from power. This set of circumstances not only defused any criticism, but also led many to believe that the film's finale, in which historical icons sail into the history and leave ordinary people to deal with ordinary issues, symbolised not only the new era for Croatian film, but also the new era for Croatia as a whole.

Despite the happy ending of their film, father and son Brešan don't seem to show much optimism for Croatia in the rest of Marshal Tito's Spirit. Small island and their inhabitants are the microcosm that shows three major tendencies in Croatia, each harmful in their own ways. First is the past, which poisons the new generations both with the memories of relative prosperity of Communist era and with the chauvinist myths of ancient national glory. The present is embodied in those who used the fall of Communism as an excuse to abandon any semblance of morality and whose greed brought ruin to the whole country. The future isn't bright either, because it is embodied in young generations who don't think of anything else other than smoking pot.

Despite the bleakness of its vision, Marshal Tito's Spirit is actually very entertaining film. Many jokes in the film are very funny, although some could be properly understood and appreciated only by those who grew up in former Yugoslavia or were familiar with its recent history. Unfortunately, Brešan still has to learn how to maintain film's tempo - some of the jokes don't work, while some scenes are almost painfully overlong. Some look like a cheap gimmick, including introduction of two Croatian secret police agents who resemble protagonists of The X-Files. On the other hand, filmophiles are probably going to appreciate homage to The Wicker Man and other classics of horror genre.

Marshal Tito's Spirit, despite all of its flaws, shows that some serious and depressing subjects can be dealt with in a entertaining way. Because of that, it deserves recommendation despite not being as powerful as it was in late 1999.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on August 24th 2004)