Essay On The Historical Importance Of Bitka Na Neretvi

Joshua Rodriguez

21 May 2014

Eastern European Cinema

Bitka na Neretvi: Historical Importance

Bitka na Neretvi is a 1969 Yugoslavian film. The film was written by Stevan Bulajic and Veljko Bulajic, and directed by Veljko Bulajic. The film is based on the real events of World War II that occurred in the area of the Neretva River in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bitka na Neretvi was the most expensive film and was first of the huge state-sponsored of the former Yugoslavia. Commissioned by President Josip Broz Tito, the film had a budget of $12 million and was shot over 16 months. Bitka na Neretvi would eventually be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and in In 1999, a poll of Croatian film fans found it to be one of the best Yugoslavian films ever made and was praised for its historical accuracy.

Stevan and Veljko Bulajic tell the story of the battle from all points of view, but the obvious sympathy lies with the Partisans. Through several interwoven stories the outlying theme of the film is the importance of camaraderie during wartime. Despite the length of each battle scene, we gravitate to have a personal involvement because they show characters that we have come to care about. What makes this film amazing is the highly detailed and organized battle scenes. Despite the length of the battle scenes, you become immersed in them because they present characters that we have come to sympathize with. Bulajic uses wide shots very often to show how massive the combat zone can be. Battles take place in valleys, narrow streets and in the snow-covered mountains and we can see just hazardous the Yugoslav terrain can be when dealing with combat. What makes this film especially appealing is the near perfect historical...

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... denied the Axis from holding the region. For this, the battles was considered a victory by Partisans mainly because they were able to escape certain defeat, and with the remaining force they would eventually recover and claim victory as the Axis were defeated just a few years later.

All in all both sides had a vast number of casualties. Germany suffered about 600 soldiers killed in action with about 1,600 wounded and another 150 missing. The Italians lost roughly 1,600 soldiers and another 1,000 were captured. The Chetniks lost roughly 3,000 soldiers bringing an estimated Axis loss of 7,000-8,600 soldiers. The Partisans had a heavy casualty rate of about 12,000 with about 2,500 captured and another 600 executed. During the fighting thousands of civilians were either killed, wounded, displaced, or simply disappeared as each faction moved throughout the Balkans.