Ranjenici (S01E12)
Airdate: 9 March 1975
Written by: Dragan Marković & Siniša Pavić
Directed by: Aleksandar Đorđević
Running Time: 40 minutes
Hollywood action cinema has taught countless generations that guerilla warfare is the most exciting and entertaining form of warfare; the dashing commando, the improvised explosive, the heart-pounding ambush. Yet, one of the less shown or profoundly appreciated aspects of being a partisan is the grinding, terrifying reality of being deprived of the logistics and medical care conventional armies take for granted. A stark and potent reminder of this forms the crippling heart of Ranjenici (“The Wounded”), the penultimate episode of the cult Yugoslav television series Otpisani. This instalment stands as one of the most iconic and brutally effective examples of the Partisan film genre, precisely because it swaps exhilarating heroics for a suffocating, granular examination of desperation, attrition, and the crushing personal cost of resistance.
The episode begins with a cold open that reintroduces Milan, once the top resistance operative in Belgrade, now commanding a small band of Partisans in the countryside. They conduct a raid on a railway station to plant explosives on a German troop transport. The operation is a tactical success—the train spectacularly explodes—but it comes at a price. A firefight leaves several Partisans wounded, with Milan most gravely injured of all. His second-in-command, Cvika (Slobodan Novaković), makes the reluctant but necessary decision to send him across the river to Belgrade for urgent medical attention. This task falls to his former subordinates, the last remaining members of the original cell still operating in the city: Prle and Tihi.
In Belgrade, the operational machinery grinds into motion with a tense, procedural realism. Prle and Tihi learn that the barge they share with their avuncular landlord, simply called Uncle, will be used for the river crossing. In a moment of profound, unspoken trust, Uncle reveals he has known of their clandestine activities all along and chosen to remain silent; he will personally pilot the boat. During the day, the duo split their duties. Prle recruits Žile (Ljubomir Ubavkić), a car mechanic, to provide post-extraction transportation via a stolen German lorry. Tihi, meanwhile, ventures to the hospital to recruit a sympathetic physician. It is here that the episode’s meticulously constructed house of cards begins to tremble. Tihi’s arrival is noticed by Klara, a young woman from their social circle. In a fatal lapse of judgement, she later mentions this sighting to her friends, the fervently fascistic Miro and Džokej. The two young men, seizing an opportunity for glory, personally report Tihi to Gestapo Major Krieger. Krieger, impressed by their initiative, incorporates them into a planned raid on the barge at midnight. Hours before the operation, at a party where Major and Džokej boast of their impending triumph, a horrified Klara realises the consequence of her gossip and slips away to warn her friends.
The convergence at the riverside barge creates mounting tension. The wounded have arrived, and the doctor begins treatment, even as the secrecy is further compromised by the unexpected arrival of Čibi and his girlfriend Milica. Prle, in a moment of stark pragmatism, allows them inside; the cat is out of the bag, and extra hands are needed. Žile arrives with the lorry, and finally, a breathless Klara delivers her warning. The group scrambles to evacuate. They successfully manoeuvre Milan and the other wounded Partisans to the lorry, but the engine, in a cruel twist of fate, refuses to start. The ensuing sequence is a chaotic, tragic fight. Krieger’s Gestapo agents, accompanied by the eager Miro and Džokej, storm the premises. A fierce firefight erupts, killing several Germans, but the Partisans pay a harrowing price. Uncle is gunned down. Klara, in a moment of gut-wrenching irony, is accidentally shot and killed by Miro’s bullet. As the lorry’s engine finally roars to life and the survivors escape, Tihi is left to stare at the bodies of his beloved uncle and former schoolmate—a devastating tableau of personal loss.
Despite its opening, which delivers a classic, gung-ho action scene, Ranjenici is arguably the darkest episode of the series to this point. Its overarching theme is an oppressive, all-consuming sense of loss. Prle and Tihi operate under a grim, unspoken understanding: with so many of their comrades already dead, the laws of probability and statistics are now their most formidable enemy. Unbeknownst to them, the walls are closing in with terrifying speed. Krieger, thanks to Tihi’s own fascist schoolmates, now has Prle and Tihi not merely as abstract targets, but as men whose faces, haunts, and methods he is beginning to personally comprehend. This existential dread is masterfully underlined in a heartbreaking scene where Milan, delirious from his wounds, fails to recognise Tihi and instead feverishly inquires after Zriki, Mile, and Paja—ghosts from seasons past, a litany of the fallen.
For Tihi, this episode transforms statistical loss into acutely personal agony. He loses not just another comrade, but a beloved familial figure in Uncle, and witnesses the death of a well-meaning friend in Klara. Furthermore, the lives of Čibi and Milica, now irrevocably entangled, hang in a precarious balance.
The only fleeting moment of levity comes courtesy of Ljubomir Ubavkić’s Žile. Ubavkić, a superb character actor, is brilliantly effective, his playful banter with Prle and his cheerful interactions with unsuspecting German soldiers providing a necessary, humanising respite from the enveloping gloom. Equally notable is Dragomir Felba, one of the great pillars of Serbian and Yugoslav cinema, who delivers a poignant, understated performance in one of his character’s final appearances, lending Uncle a dignity and quiet courage that makes his fate all the more affecting.
From a critical standpoint, the episode is not without minor flaws. The series recycles the explosion footage from the previous episode, Poštar, though only the most nitpicking viewer would lodge a serious complaint given the budgetary constraints of television production at the time. A more valid criticism lies in the climax’s blend of frantic gunfire and high melodrama, which, by modern standards, edges slightly toward the clichéd. However, this is a minor quibble in an otherwise tightly constructed narrative.
Ultimately, Ranjenici serves its core purpose with ruthless efficiency: it sets the stage for the series finale by stripping away any remaining illusion of glamour. It forces both the characters and the audience to stare, unflinchingly, at the bloody arithmetic of resistance. The episode concludes not with a triumphant escape, but with Tihi’s silent, shell-shocked gaze upon the dead—a moment of pure, undiluted tragedy. By this point, the stage is set for a finale that promises not a triumphant victory, but a very dark and profoundly human conclusion, making Ranjenici a crucial, devastating pivot in the saga of Otpisani.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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