For some films, being choses as their country’s entry for the International Feature Film category at the Oscars is the culmination of a longer global run. For others, like Serbia’s submission Russian Consul, it’s the start of a new journey after a largely domestic distribution. Given its topical premise, the film should be able to enjoy success at least in the context of events with a focus on cinema from the Balkans.
Based on a novel by Vuk Draskovic, the story begins in Belgrade in 1973. Ilija Jugovic, a Serbian psychiatrist, is dealing with the consequences of the death of one his patients. As punishment, the Communist Party sends him to work as a general practitioner in a hospital in Prizren, in the autonomous province of Kosovo, where tensions are high between Serbs and Albanians.
Adding to the turmoil is one person in particular: Ljubo Bozovic, the self-declared “Russian Consul”, actually a history teacher. His claims that “Russia will soon be Russia again, and Kosovo will be Serbian again” do not sit well with some of the locals, particularly one Halit Berisha, a powerful separatist who intends to evict all Serbs from Kosovo. Bozovic is on the list, but he refuses to sell his house, and Jugovic, who’s under his protection, sides with him.
Much of the film’s intellectual and emotional heft comes from the on-screen rapport between Nebojsa Dugalic and Zarko Lausevic, who play the doctor and the consul respectively. The former shares a bit of a physical resemblance with a younger Alan Alda, which adds a layer of humor to a scene where, like in an episode of M*A*S*H*, the topic of being funny under dire circumstances comes up; the latter, who passed away in late 2023, before the film’s premiere, provides seasoned wisdom and gravitas as the weight of the situation (present and future) grows heavier.
The project was financed by Serbian television, and an extended small-screen version is also in the works, but at no point does the film feel like a truncated edit of something longer, and not just because of its 148-minute runtime. Every shot aims to recreate the era and its lasting, chaotic and blood-soaked legacy with purpose, tracing the origins of a political and territorial dispute that is still far from resolved (the timeliness of the film’s release, in light of similar situations in other parts of the world and patterns of history repeating itself, cannot be overstated).
Clearly meant for a wider audience at home (but also accessible to international viewers thanks to its straightforward storytelling), Russian Consul proceeds at a steady pace, with an unfussy direction that nevertheless contains enough grace notes to quietly underline the horrors it is depicting on screen.
And while the overall aesthetic is very classical in execution, Lekic does have some directorial flourishes up his sleeve, not least the unsubtle but effective choice of a split-screen in the shape of barbed wire to convey the sense of tremendous loss on both sides of the conflict, as regular people suffer the consequences of high-level political machinations. In 1973 but also, by association, in 2024, as the film exists partly as a reminder of what should be avoided, not reiterated.
Director & Screenwriter: Miroslav Lekic
Cast: Zarko Lausevic, Nebojsa Dugalic, Paulina Manov, Svetozar Cvetkovic, Visar Vishka, Danica Radulovic
Producer: Dragan Durkovic
Cinematography: Dalibor Tokovic
Music: Aleksandar Kovac,
Production companies: Telekom Srbija, VisionTeam
World sales: VisionTeam
Venue: Online Screener (International Feature Film Oscars)
In Serbian, Albanian
148 minutes
