''We Are Not Angels'' ( sr, Ми нисмо анђели / ''Mi nismo anđeli'') is a 1992 Serbian and Yugoslavian comedy movie directed by

Srđan Dragojević Srđan Dragojević ( sr-cyr, Срђан Драгојевић, , born 1 January 1963) is a Serbian film director and screenwriter, who emerged in the 1990s as a significant figure in Serbian cinema. From 2010 until 2017, he was affiliated with the ...

that became one of the most popular films of the 1990s in the region of the

former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

. The plot revolves around Angel (played by

Uroš Đurić Uroš Đurić (; born 4 December 1964) is a Serbian conceptual artist, actor and painter based in Belgrade. He studied art history at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy and painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade. In 1980 ...

) and Devil (

Srđan Todorović Srđan "Žika" Todorović ( sr-cyr, Срђан "Жика" Тодоровић, ; born 28 March 1965) is a Serbian actor and musician. He has played in numerous bands, including Ekatarina Velika, Disciplina Kičme, Radnička Kontrola and Bezobraz ...

) fighting for the soul of Belgrade playboy Nikola (

Nikola Kojo Nikola Kojo (; born 5 September 1967) is a Serbian actor and film director. Biography Nikola was named after his great-grandfather, who was an protoiereus in Mostar. He made his acting debut before he turned 13, with the role of the boy Ivan in ...

) who is unaware that he impregnated a high school student named Marina ( Milena Pavlović) during a drunken

one-night stand A one-night stand or one-night sex is a single sexual encounter in which there is an expectation that there shall be no further relations between the sexual participants. It draws its name from the common practice of a one-night stand, a single ...

. The film was lauded by critics for its inventive direction, tight editing, urban humour and its large number of pop culture references. Its commercial success and later cult status, however, could be at least partially attributed to specific circumstances at the time of the film's premiere. Namely, before the film reached theatres, the

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

was put under UN sanctions, thus depriving local theatres of Hollywood blockbusters. Many Yugoslavian films filled that void and had great commercial success, including ''We Are Not Angels''. However, Yugoslavian movies were anyway the most popular in Yugoslavia (both SFRJ and FRJ).

Characters

* Nikola Milojević (

), a Belgrade playboy who has slept with almost every girl in town. He is a 20-year-old literature student, and lives with his friend Marta. He has one problem: due to his regular morning hangovers he can never remember the girl he slept with the night before. Marina's

pregnancy Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops (gestation, gestates) inside a woman, woman's uterus (womb). A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Pregnancy usually occur ...

makes Nikola insecure and frightened, but he finally falls in love with Marina. They get a baby girl, named Sofija. * Marina ( Milena Pavlović), an 18-year-old honor student. Nikola is the first guy she's slept with, but she gets pregnant. She decides to keep the baby, and falls in love with Nikola, wanting him all for herself. Her friend Buba has many plans of how to do it, and Marina's not always all right with her plans but still carries through with them. At the end of the movie, Marina gives a birth to a beautiful baby girl, Sofija. * Ljubinka "Buba" Prodanović (

Branka Katić Branka Katić ( sr-cyr, Бранка Катић; born 20 January 1970) is a Serbian actress known for appearing in the films ''Black Cat, White Cat'' and '' Public Enemies'', and the TV series ''Big Love''. Career Katić debuted in the film '' ...

), Marina's best friend, an 18-year-old pupil of the High School of Beauty Care. She is the world's biggest fan of Barbara Sidney (a fictional author), and also the author of the book ''The most famous playboys of Belgrade''. Buba tries to get Marina and Nikola together, basing her plans on Barbara Sidney's novels. She is helped by Raca, who she constantly spurns until the end of the movie. *

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

(

) and

Angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inclu ...

(

), the two spirits overlooking Nikola, playing a game - if Nikola falls in love with Marina and takes care of their baby, Angel wins, while if he refuses to take responsibility, Devil wins.

Production

The movie was shot during fall 1991 using the production capabilities of Avala Film. The making of the movie coincided with the beginning stages of the disintegration of SFR Yugoslavia that included continual ethnically motivated incidents in the breakaway constituent republic of

SR Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), or SR Croatia, was a constituent republic and federated state of the Sociali ...

that culminated in the Battle of Vukovar. Since the

Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska ar ...

(JNA) was involved in the above conflict, it was conscripting young men for battle thus many of the film's male crew members including director Dragojević received military call-ups. According to Dragojević, in order to avoid the draft, they resorted to sleeping in different apartments most nights during the movie's shooting.; November 2011

Release and reception

The film was lauded by critics for its inventive direction, tight editing, urban humour and its large number of pop culture references. Its commercial success and later cult status, however, could be at least partially attributed to specific circumstances at the time of the film's premiere. Namely, before the film reached theatres, the

was put under UN sanctions, thus depriving local theatres of Hollywood blockbusters. Many Serbian films filled that void and had great commercial success, including ''We Are Not Angels''. In 1996, the members of the Yugoslavian Board of the Academy of Film Art and Science (AFUN) voted this film the ninth best Serbian movie in the 1947–1995 period.

Sequels

''
We Are Not Angels 2 In Modern English, ''we'' is a plural, first-person pronoun. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''we'' has six distinct shapes for five word forms: * ''we'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''us'' and ': the accusative (objective; ...
'' (2005)

Break-through role of

Mirka Vasiljević Mirka Vasiljević ( sr-Cyrl, Мирка Васиљевић; born 27 September 1990) is a Serbian actress and occasional model and television presenter. She rose to domestic fame with the 2005 film ''We Are Not Angels 2'', the sequel to the 1992 ...

who became a teen idol.

'' We Are Not Angels 3: Rockenroll Strikes Back'' (2006)

References

External links

* {{Srđan Dragojević 1992 films 1990s Serbian-language films Serbian comedy films Films directed by Srđan Dragojević Socialist Republic of Serbia Films set in Serbia 1992 in Serbia 1992 comedy films The Devil in film Films shot in Serbia Culture in Belgrade 1992 directorial debut films Films set in Belgrade Films shot in Belgrade