Cinema: Memory Movie When Father Was Away on Business

Directed by Emir Kusturica Screenplay by Abdulah Sidran

Some drab-looking Yugoslavs endure family skirmishes during the postwar taffy pull between Stalin and Tito. No stars, no hardware, no ravishing landscapes, no shimmering sex. Two hours and 24 minutes long. Right, Maude--let's run out and see When Father Was Away on Business! As it happens, there is every reason to catch this endearing memory movie, which won the Palme d'Or at the 1985 Cannes International Film Festival. The memory is that of the Bosnian poet Abdulah Sidran, who fashioned his script from events affecting a Muslim community in Sarajevo from 1949 to 1952. The vision belongs to Director Emir Kusturica,...

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