# Bure Baruta (1998)

### reviewed by
Atul Akhare

"Look long enough into the abyss, and the abyss looks at you" said Nietzsche, and as the ending credits of the film rolled by, I silently wondered if they had forgotten to credit *him* w/ the screenplay for the film. Indeed, the bottomless pit lies at the very heart of this film's characters, and although yours truly recommends it, it certainly isn't an easy film to watch.

The film is set "in the country formerly known as Yugoslavia", and is a set of loosely connected vignettes. The Cabaret style "emcee" sets the tone for the rest of the film -- we are the ass**** of the world, we are really f***ed up -- and these nihilistic sentiments are more than borne out by the events that follow.

When a teenager rear ends an old Volkswagen in a seemingly harmless accident, this sends the other driver into a state of angered frenzy. The teenager manages to escape, but is hunted down by the driver, who barges into his apartment, accosts his father and proceeds to smash things. A taxi driver who has once been wronged by a policeman exacts a terrible revenge.

A jealous man stabs his best friend to death after seemingly reconciling w/ him. He then proceeds to commit a suicide in a macabre fashion, killing a hapless victim in the process. A deranged young man hijacks a bus and proceeds to humiliate and terrorize the passengers, much to the amusement of a new married couple who continue to make out in the backseat.

The girl who is the object of his humiliation manages to escape, but is accused of being the provocateur when she narrates the episode to her boyfriend. While they are arguing about it, they are kidnapped by coke snorting drug pushers, and in a scene that puts Dennis Hopper's Blue Velvet scene to shame, the boyfriend is forced to sing at gunpoint while his girlfriend is subjected to unspeakable horrors.

So, what is the movie really about? IMO, ravaged by years of unrest and wracked by impotent rage over their inability to do anything about it, the characters in the film have paid the ultimate price: the loss of the human soul.

    Atul

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