The Balkan wars of the 1990s still cast a long shadow across Bosnia and Herzegovina, from bullet-scarred buildings to genocide museums, so it is no surprise Sarajevo Film Festival has been a regular launchpad for sombre documentaries and bleak dramas about the conflict and its bloody legacy. Less frequent are sardonic, absurd, quietly angry comedies about the region’s ongoing post-war ethnic tensions like When Santa Was a Communist, a modestly scaled but charming debut from writer-director Emir Kapetanovic, which world premieres in Sarajevo this week.
Unlike most Balkan comedies, When Santa Was a Communist feels understated and universal enough to play outside the region, wrapping its idealistic message about multicultural unity in sparkly festive layers of irony. The plot is loosely inspired by an ongoing culture war dating back to wartime, when hardline Catholic and Muslim leaders tried to ban the traditional New Year visit by Santa Claus to schools and kindergartens across the region, even though it began as a non-religious communal winter custom in Communist Yugoslavia. Anti-Santa ban proposals and pro-Santa protests have resurfaced several times since.
Mirvad Kuric stars as Burhan, the manager of a ramshackle low-budget theatre troupe travelling through the backwater towns of present-day Bosnia in late December to perform a Santa-themed children’s show at schools and community halls. The festive starring role goes to Jerry (Mirza Tanovic), a formerly famous screen star fallen on hard times, who is flanked by younger actress Selma (Zana Marjanovic) and musician Zoka (Miraj Grbic). Along for the ride is American NGO observer Ella (Croatian-American Kristen Winters), monitoring the mission to make sure it remains a box-ticking exercise in carefully neutral cross-cultural unity.
Spreading a harmless message of seasonal good cheer, Burhan and his travelling players are greeted by delighted children wherever they stop. Adults and community leaders, by contrast, mostly give them a frosty welcome. The group’s first planned performance is blocked by racist Croatian Catholic nationalists, who claim the show features a “Muslim dressed a a Communist saint”. Their next is sabotaged by imams and Muslim elders, who complain “this is a political play about a Catholic saint.”
This Catch-22 farce takes an extra surreal road-movie detour when the group cross paths with a gun-toting gangster, Merdzo (Goran Kostic), who turns out to be fan of Jerry’s work, inviting the whole ensemble to his daughter’s wedding feast. Only by Merdzo pulling a few strings do they finally get to perform their Santa show to a culturally mixed audience in an otherwise religiously segregated school. But even here, the ghosts of the past crash the party and sour the festive mood.
When Santa Was a Communist is a local story on one level, but witty and well-observed enough to still translate internationally. While some of humour is culturally specific, much of it all will make sense to wider audiences: sarcastic jokes about ruined buildings being “national monuments”, or entire villages relocating to find work in Germany, or the need for Bosnians to dutifully play the role of peaceful good neighbours to please overseas observers. “When foreigners start apologising, we know it’s something to do with the war,” Burhan shrugs.
Kapetanovic sometimes plays the story a little too deadpan, especially the inflammatory climax, which lacks the show-stopping dramatic force it deserves. That said, his sardonic tone is mostly well-judged while the cast are generally excellent, especially the anchoring presence of Kuric. With his hangdog, soulful, world-weary aura, he comes across like a Balkan cousin of Brendan Gleeson. Music is also richly deployed, from ironically patriotic punk songs to Bosnian translations of vintage Christmas classics. The film’s Bosnian title is slightly different from the English, translating simply as “Santa Claus in Bosnia”. Perhaps significantly, it uses the distinct term for Santa favoured by Bosnian Muslims, which translates as “Grandfather Frost”.
Director: Emir Kapetanovic
Cast: Mirvad Kuric, Zana Marjanovic, Miraj Grbic, Mirza Tanovic, Kristen Winters
Screenplay: Emir Kapetanovic, Vahid Durakovic
Cinematography: Mikša Andelic
Editing: Saša Peševski
Music: Adis Sirbubalo
Producers: Emir Kapetanovic, Jasmin Durakovic, Bogdan Petkovic, Natalija Rudic, Slaven Knezovic, Daliborka Puž, Jovan Todorovic, Džemal Šabic
Production companies: DEPO Production (Bosnia), Emote Films (Serbia), Eurofilm (Croatia), Federalna televizija (Bosnia), CKA Charlama (Bosnia)
Venue: Sarajevo Film Fetsival (Open Air)
In Bosnian, Croatian, English
86 minutes
