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(source: tmdb.org)

The early 1980s were rather grim and depressive times in Yugoslavia due to economic woes that would escalate and a decade later contribute to the violent collapse of the country. Yet, even that dark period had something that would become an object of nostalgia among certain segments of the population – fans of New Wave music. The sudden proliferation and popularity of imaginative and often iconoclastic New Wave bands is a phenomenon that affected even the Yugoslav cinema industry, most notably in The Promising Boy, a 1981 drama directed by Miloš “Miša” Radivojević, a film which enjoys cult status among fans of Yugoslav New Wave music.

The plot actually has little to do with the music directly, at least when it starts. The protagonist, played by Aleksandar Berček, is Slobodan Milošević, a young man who lives in Belgrade and enjoys all the privileges that come with a family that belongs to the ruling Communist elite. His father (played by Rade Marković) is a high‑ranking Yugoslav People’s Army officer, while his mother (played by Dušica Žegarac) is a university professor. He is supposed to follow in their footsteps by studying medicine at Belgrade University and his fiancée Maša (played by Dara Džokić) belongs to the same circles. Slobodan is a model son and model student who tries to do everything right, even frustrating Maša who appears to be more sexually adventurous in their relationship.

Everything changes after a chance meeting with a young Swiss woman (played by Eva Dalan) who visited Yugoslavia in order to study Serbian monasteries. She easily seduces Slobodan and has sex with him in a hotel, but this tryst doesn’t sit well with Maša who reacts by hitting Slobodan in the head with an oar. This results in a complete change of Slobodan’s personality, namely in him suddenly feeling liberated and unrestrained by his family’s expectations and social conventions. This is reflected in scandalous behaviour that includes having sex with Maša’s mother (played by Milena Župančič). He also abandons his studies in order to pursue a career as a punk musician, being mentored by his good friend Pit (played by Branko Kojić, frontman of the Disciplina kičme rock band). This rebellion, however, ends after he suffers another accident that would result in him regaining his “normalcy” and marrying Maša.

A decade after the premiere, The Promising Boy began to be seen in a rather macabre light due to its protagonist sharing the name with Slobodan Milošević, the Serbian leader whose policies would play a large role in the collapse of Yugoslavia and the ensuing bloodbath. Many began to view the film as some sort of allegorical prophecy, aided by Aleksandar Berček’s physical resemblance to Milošević. Radivojević and his scriptwriters Nebojša Pajkić and Bogdan Tirnanić have spent decades trying to deny those claims, pointing out that Milošević is actually a relatively common surname in Serbia and Yugoslavia. The name Slobodan was chosen because it literally means “free” in Serbian, which is a word closely associated with the general theme of the plot and repeatedly mentioned in the lyrics of one of the punk songs performed by Berček.

The Promising Boy, despite being set in the upper‑class milieu of Communist Yugoslavia, deals with more generic issues of youthful rebellion and conflicts between unrestrained individualism and suffocating social conformity. Those same issues were explored in earlier films like Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause that Radivojević took as his inspiration. The New Wave and punk music that appears in the film is just a convenient expression of the rebellion.

The problem for The Promising Boy is, however, in its often confusing plot, which is not particularly convincing, and in Radivojević lacking discipline during its direction. The soundtrack featuring songs of the most popular bands of the period, like Šarlo Akrobata, Azra, Prljavo kazalište, Igra staklenih perli and VIS idoli, is supposed to function as a sort of Greek chorus, but this probably won’t work for an audience unfamiliar with the language and specific cultural and political conditions of early‑1980s Yugoslavia. The ending is somewhat confusing and makes the whole film look pretentious.

Despite those flaws, Radivojević should be commended for his enthusiasm, and the same can be said of the cast that gives spirited performances to sometimes underwritten roles. Although it is best recommended to a rather limited set of nostalgic viewers, The Promising Boy represents an important time capsule that could only gain in importance for future historians.

RATING: 6/10 (++)