Slobodan Sijan, Who Is Singing Over There? Ko to tamo peva? (Yugoslavia, 1980)

Roll up, Roll up for the mystery tour!

Who is That Singing Over There, written by Dušan Kovačević and directed by Slobodan Sijan, was an instant classic in Serbia after its release in 1981. The film explores clashes between a group of character types riding a bus to Belgrade on April 5, 1941, in the former Yugoslavia. To a Serbian, the date would suggest the film's conclusion because, commonly known in Serbia, the German Luftwaffe's surprise raid of Belgrade showered the city with bombs on April 6-7 that year which killed at least 17,500 people. Despite the looming tragedy, we see that Kovačević takes on a comedic posture with his eccentric character types. A couple of Roma travelers meet the bus at its departure and follow the passengers along their journey. The two boys function as a chorus, addressing the camera as they provide additional commentary through song.

Out on a country road somewhere in Serbia, we see the characters immediately clash as they board the bus to Belgrade. The bus becomes somewhat of a microcosm of Yugoslavia's ethnic landscape under Tito's rule until the the early 80s. Yugoslavia was the grab bag country for an assortment of ethnic groups which were all unified under Tito's policies, but broke off, often violently, into separate 'ethnically clean' countries soon after Tito's death in 1980. If we consider each character type as a representation of a general innate group of characteristics specific to an individual ethnic group, our laughing response to their tensions is somewhat insensitive to the violent struggles for independence post Yugoslavia.

Each quirky passenger has a unique reason to arrive in Belgrade. They endure one another and the dangerous voyage only to find that the trip is futile. The bombs become the ultimate neutralizer among the disputing passengers. "Kill humanity to make a new one," sing the gypsy musicians in the blazing rubble following a frame of white. The gypsies allude to Nazi fascist policies to terminate anyone not in their quality adjusted life years, as it were (i.e. the ill, elderly, non-German, etc.). The gypsies have some what of an intermediary role in Who's Singing Over There. They interact with the characters. They even figure quite central to the film's climactic points with the brutality directed towards them just before raid sequence. On the other hand, they address the viewers directly as the provide additional commentary as it were, but also serving the audience with entertainment, despite of the cynical messages in the songs. The line "Kill humanity to make a new one" is both an observation but demonstrates keen incite on the state of things since we know that about 40 years later, Yugoslavia would experience its own brutal "starting anew." This line might also conjure various mythical deluges or other narratives of massive destruction followed by starting anew. Who's Singing Over There is monumental because of the way in which Kovačević and Sijan tell a very specific story about Yugoslavia's personality meanwhile colossal myth-like narratives are asserted. The camera mediates scenes that at once connect the audience to A) the immediate political context of Yugoslavia after the Nazis raid Belgrade B) a broader sense of ancient or inherent conflict between ethnic groups on that particular plot of land, and C) we are guided along a mythical plot of tragedy and near apocalyptic destruction.

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