Border Post

Running time: 94 mins

Take some Catch 22, add a dollop of Cuckoo's Nest, a soupcon of M.A.S.H., even a hint of Wag the Dog, set it in the Balkans, and let 'er rip!!

On the Albanian border, army life in a Yugoslavian post would be all fun and games were it not for the alcoholic commander?and those pesky Albanians just over the ridge. Now the commander has discovered he?s contracted an embarrassing disease, so to hide the fact, he invents a border crisis and cancels all leaves. As the pressure mounts, and things go from bad to ridiculous to disturbing, the film remains hilariously funny. But laugh while you can, because there?s a lot more than laughter at work here?in classic Balkan form, mirth can turn deadly and comedy to tragedy in the blink of an eye.

Border Post, the first film co-produced by all the former member states of Yugoslavia since it?s break up, is a microcosmic portrait of her final days, ?awkwardly poised between Tito's paternalistic socialism and Milosevic's bitter ethnic wars? (Deborah Young, Variety). With tensions seething just beneath the surface, the border post ? and the world ? descends from ineptitude into dangerous madness. A terrific film!


Charlie Cockey

MAVERICK COMPETITION