Die Parade

'Parada' was the most popular film in the Berlin Festival this year, bagging both audience awards yet not the LGBT 'Teddy Award'. That illustrates both its strength and weakness as a film: intended to induce a positive image about homosexuals in a non-gay audience, it does an admirable job in combining drama and comedy, tears and laughs. Yet at the same time, the gay characters are so terribly cliché that, in a different setting, they could be also used to narrate a viciously homophobic story.

That this is not the case is due to the scriptwriting talents of Srdan Dragojevic, who makes every single character, gay or not, a walking cliché of ex-Yugoslavia. The ex-militia gangster, tattooed all over with battle reminders around bullet wounds, resorting to protecting a gay pride march at the behest of his 'slut-with-a-golden-heart' fiancée, is about as credible as the effeminate wedding planner insisting on organizing the pride in spite of organized acts of violence by a group of nationalist skinheads lead by, as it turns out, the gangster's son. Add to this the soft-hearted vet who saves his dog and turns out to be the wedding planner's partner, with whom the gangster embarks on a journey through ex-Yugoslavia to enlist the help of other ex-soldiers, who, for reasons not sufficiently explained, became his friends while being his enemies at the same time... the plot is indeed as convoluted and incredible as this summary sounds like.

Yet Dragojevic's writing constantly adds jokes and situational comedy, he reveals himself here to be indeed the creator of the beloved classic 'We are no Angels'. The eclectic mix between comedy and drama makes this pretty much a must-see, as does the tremendous success 'Parada' enjoyed at home and in its festival run. Just don't expect any real portrayal of gay life in the Balkans; having been born in Romania, I fully understand that for a homosexual in Belgrade, this film must come rather as an offense than a relief. Yet as one cannot explain quantum theory in primary school, the clichés in this film are probably a necessary evil: you have to work with what people already (believe to) know in order to educate them and change their attitude. If this film succeeds in making cliché gays more acceptable in the mainstream, then maybe this will color off into a broader acceptance of the fact that the public knows very little about homosexuality and therefore has no reason to feel threatened by it; in that case 'Parada' would have done its job of opening minds, aside of being a pretty entertaining experience.

I find this movie ground-breaking and beautifully made. I will slightly base this writing on the review of the user "mmajstor", who - as a Serbian - knows the situation in the country best, but I want to share my view on the problems he exposed. I'm a gay from Slovenia, which is the most gay-friendly of the ex-Yugoslavian countries. Pride parades take place regularly for the last 11 years and we always experience sadness when hearing the unpleasant stories of parades in Croatia and Serbia, the latter being one of the most homophobic countries in Europe. Making a movie about homosexuality is already the reason to bow before Dragojevic (the director), who experienced homophobic attacks while making this film. And even more, made a really good one.

Of course, the movie is a bit idealistic, that was the point. Gay movies are depressing as it is, there's no point in just showing gay bashing, because in the case of Serbia that could be a simple documentary. This movie was made to give hope to people. I admit that the characters are a bit stereotypical, not all homosexuals are like that, but some of them ARE and they should be allowed to walk freely outside as anybody else. And as mmajstor said "I don't think that gay population would be satisfied with the presented picture of them", in the case of me and my friends, we were laughing the loudest in the cinema because we got the inside jokes. And already like this, the movie was very provocative, so I wouldn't tease the local public with harsher topics for the start, because I think the movie was made mainly to educate. If this was the primary goal, I believe it did well. It showed that gays as well as straights can get beat up for the same reasons, for love. It showed that people can change and that giving a chance to somebody can result in personal growth. It had to show the situation to the locals from the Serbian point of view, because only this way people can relate to it and not think "it's just another one of those American Sodoma-and-Gomorrah movies" - it's something that happens in your country, in your town.

And finally, the idea of teaming up ex-enemies to protect Serbian gays is pretty far-fetched, but absurdly hilarious and slightly nostalgic.

Basically, my opinion is that this was a wonderfully made film and I hope it will made people think. Really think.

I think it is really a great movie. I watched it with my girlfriend in the theater and we were both pretty excited and under great impressions even the day after. The story had a nice, smooth humorous way to steel into the auditions collective consciousness and to make them all laugh out loud. Despite the funny dialogues and the scenes, the story has a deep metaphor which is quite serious and initiates you to think about. The movie characters are each of them from a different ex-Yugoslav republic. Mostly of them were in war against each other, but built friendships after the wars were over (despite the nationalism, opposite politics and ethnic diversity - they united to fight together). Now they built a team to fight for the gays (which represent metaphorically the emotional and peaceful character in humans) in their gay parade in Belgrade which should be organized in close future. Everybody is against them, skinheads are sharpening their knives, while preparing for the final fight (they are representing the brutal, aggressive nature in human). The fight for peace and freedom begins, bringing some adrenalin and rage to audition to fight back against the distorted society.

I think that movie is very helpful, because it deals with all "Serbian problems" with humor. It's emotionally heavy and deep story, but also very comical - which is the only way, in my opinion, that can change someone's beliefs, or at least, make people think about the situation around here. Movie as a movie is very good and interesting, and it awakes emotions of happiness and sadness. Plot is, in the least, hilarious. It is about very serious topics and issues, which we, as a people, created on our own. Prejudice that we create, everyone of us, whether we are Serbs, gay, straight, Albanians, Croats, Bosnians or someone else . Maybe one of the best movies of Srdjan Dragojevic.

The Parade (i keep forgetting that that's the actual title as the parade itself doesn't even happen til the last 10 or 15 minutes of the movie) is a mostly enjoyable comedic farce that starts out like a guy ritchie film (big tough gang affiliated guy gets his dog shot at and immediately wants revenge...now! but not before taking the dog to a vet and holding the vet at gunpoint to fix the dog!) you think that that British gangster tone is what's gonna dominate the rest of the film but then the guy ritchie vibe gradually gives way to a variation on The Birdcage--with the vet and his wedding planner boyfriend getting beyond tired of being signaled out for being gay (their little pink car is continually getting spray pained curses and insults on and in fact the wedding planner is part of a lgbt group planning a gay pride march that is in danger of being torn apart by a massive group of skinheads) The vet eventually gets the idea to hire the gang-boss whom he was scared of as a big burly protector for the parade--and in the process maybe, maybe teach him how to be a little more macho, and how to stand up for himself so he's not being picked on by every single person in his life outside his boyfriend (even his own dad is just such a jerk to him in one quick scene) This then turns into an Expendables kind of film as the gang-boss tries to get his old friends to help him protect the group from the raging skinheads(essentially becoming an old gang of aging but still tough as nails gang of ex mercenaries and soldiers getting back together for one last seemingly impossible mission) somehow the film also manages to mix in bits of Analyze This (trying to teach the not very macho guy to act tough to impress the other mercenaries in said gang--which was a lot like when De Niro had to try to toughen up Billy Crystal so that the other mobsters would take him seriously at the end of that movie)

Its The Birdcage Meets The Expendables basically--and you know what? the 2 movies manage to merge their plot lines together a lot smoother then you'd expect such a film that brought those 2 wildly different films to mind. It helps that the film is very well acted and very well written (and directed) Both the gang-boss and the schlubby vet who yearns to be tough emerge as very complex characters both of whom have things in their past they regret, and things in their present they love but would love to be able to appreciate more then they currently do. The interactions between the 2 men really are the heart of this film and i really think the film wouldn't be half as affecting if the 2 actors didn't have as much chemistry playing off each other as they do. They're both well acted and well written leading characters and the fact that you can feel for the both of them helps the film gets its point across that both guys essentially have much much much more in common then either one would care to admit.

The other supporting characters are pretty good too--the tough as nails fiancée of the gang-boss really steals a good number of her scenes she's in, and you can really understand why the gang-boss would do anything to continue to be engaged to her--even if its not apparent at first, it becomes clear eventually that she is the only person who both understands him and appreciates him for both who he is and who he could be (ie that he's capable of change which not even he believes for most of the movie) If the other mercenaries once they come into the story are not as well defined as the two other men and the fiancée, they at least provide a good counterpoint for the gang-boss and indeed provide a number of humorous moments all their own.

The only problem i think i had with the film overall is that when the ending hit, it was both a lot sadder then anything in the film prior to that would have made you think was coming, and somehow cements the very realness of what you were just watching. Its precisely that sadness that gives the film an unexpected depth of feeling that the film in its light hearted amusing way made you forget the film had. It really hammers home the point of the entire film we were just watching, and if some people feel that that point was more heavy handed then everything that came before--i feel like those people are overlooking just how harsh some of the insults thrown at and how scary some of the actual physical violence that was threatened at the gay couple throughout the film actually were. Also that skinhead rally and climactic parade truly were both scary, tense, and somehow also funny and heartbreaking as well. This film really does strike an amazing balancing act in terms of tone and emotion, but the film mostly manages to maintain that tone by just being good company. Its not a perfect film by any means-its goes on a little longer then it needs to, the film's other lgbt characters never really emerge as actual people, the subplot involving the gang-boss's son seemingly gets resolved out of nowhere, but you know the film is so jovial that none of that really matters, and the film itself is a rather memorable one, one that even if its mostly comedic somehow manages the neat trick of also making you care about its main two characters which carries the film a lot more then you would even think possible when the film started.