Serbia has the most vital of all cinema industries of former Yugoslavia due to two reasons. One is rather simple – as the most populous of all those countries, it has the biggest audience pool for its films to thrive on. The second is that Serbian filmmakers do not forget that the ultimate purpose of films is to entertain people willing to sacrifice their increasingly scarce time and resources to visit the theatre. Therefore, it is simply more likely that the audience would reward a Serbian film than one made by other countries’ industries.
One of the latest films to achieve that aim is South Wind, a 2018 crime thriller directed by Miloš Avramović. The protagonist, played by Miloš Biković, is Petar Maraš, a young man who, like so many in his troubled country, found a way out of poverty on the wrong side of the law. He specialises in the theft of luxury cars and his career, aided by excellent driving skills, benefits from his association with a small but efficient organisation led by the “Emperor” Dragoslav (played by Dragan Bjelogrlić), an experienced and well-connected gang boss who serves as a father figure to the young man.
Life seems good for Petar, who has just bought a nice new apartment for his girlfriend Sofija (played by Jovana Stojiljković) and even dreams of running his own racetrack. However, his life is about to shatter when he accidentally stumbles upon a Mercedes-Benz that seems too good an opportunity to miss. He steals the car only to realise that it was involved in an international drug-smuggling operation and that the cargo belonged to Golub (played by Nebojša Glogovac), a vicious Belgrade gangland boss. Maraš is forced into hiding while Sofija, his family, and his friends become targets of intimidation, which also involves corrupt police led by Inspector Stupar (played by Miloš Timotijević).
Avramović, who also produced and co-wrote the script, said that the inspiration for South Wind came from his own experiences of growing up in Mirijevo, a crime-infested section of Belgrade, during the 1990s when he “saw the world without heroes”. However, its plot is rather generic, and hundreds of pages could be written about the ways this film was inspired by other examples of the genre. While the content might not be that original, the form and the way it is presented could be seen as refreshing, especially when South Wind is compared to other films made in the countries of former Yugoslavia.
The choice of genre itself puts South Wind clearly in the domain of commercial cinema, and its authors never shy away from it. Instead, the film is filled with a familiar mix of crowd-attracting ingredients that include gunplay, fights, explicit sexual activity, black humour, and, last but not least, car chases—something of a rarity in films from this part of the world. Budgets might be significantly lower than in Hollywood and other major cinema industries, but Avramović proves to be quite a capable director and makes this film work. The soundtrack, based on traditional folk and more modern turbo-folk songs, also adds a lot to the mix.
The greatest asset of South Wind, however, is the cast. For some observers, Biković, who has recently built a status as a film star in Russia, might look too attractive for the role of a street criminal, but he plays his role more than competently, although he is overshadowed by his older and more experienced colleagues. They include the late Nebojša Glogovac in his last role, in which he excels as a psychopathic villain; Dragan Bjelogrlić, who gives a very convincing portrayal of an “old school” gangster forced to adapt to new times; and, finally, Srđan Todorović (best known as the protagonist of the controversial A Serbian Film) as one of Petar’s unfortunate partners. This also includes Hristo Shopov, the Bulgarian actor best known for the role of Pilate in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, who appears in the small but effective role of a Bulgarian crime boss. Probably the best role is played by Miloš Timotijević as a cynical and corrupt police inspector whose schemes and shifting loyalties provide the film with a somewhat unconventional but nevertheless “neat” ending.
While taking a cue from classic and more recent Hollywood gangster films, South Wind is nevertheless set firmly in modern-day Serbia and deals with some of that country’s issues. These include social observations and interesting details, like the protagonist’s background in a former middle-class family which was wrecked by years of war and post-Communist transition. The most interesting detail is the rather grim view of the close and firm connection between organised crime and the government, best illustrated in the scene in which Aleksandar Berček, an actor known for his resemblance to the infamous Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević, appears as an anonymous but all-powerful official who ultimately sanctions the characters’ fate. An even more ominous detail is the way criminals employ the media to achieve their goals, thus framing Avramović’s vision of Serbia as a “world without heroes”.
RATING: 8/10 (+++)
(Note: The text in the original version is available here.)
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