''Četverored'' is 1999 Croatian film directed by

Jakov Sedlar Jakov Sedlar (born 6 November 1952) is a Croatian film director and producer. A former cultural attaché during the 1990s in the Franjo Tuđman government, his documentaries promote Croatian nationalist views through propaganda. His 2016 documen ...

. Based on the novel of the same name by Ivan Aralica, the plot of the film deals with the Yugoslav death march of Nazi collaborators. It was the first film to deal with the subject, formerly a taboo topic under the Communist government. ''Četverored'' was aired on television only a week after its theatrical release in Zagreb, in what was widely characterised as an electoral ploy to support the ruling

Croatian Democratic Union The Croatian Democratic Union ( hr, Hrvatska demokratska zajednica, lit=Croatian Democratic Community, HDZ) is the major conservative, centre-right political party in Croatia. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Croa ...

, which subsequently lost the elections. ''Četverored'' was the last film role of Ena Begović before her death in a car accident in August 2000.

Cast

The cast also includes

Luka Peroš Luka Peroš (born 28 October 1976) is a Croatian actor best known for the role of Marseille in ''Money Heist''. Peroš is a polyglot and multilingual, being able to speak eight different languages. He speaks fluent English. Early life Peroš g ...

best known for his role of Marseille in

Money Heist ''Money Heist'' ( es, La casa de papel, link=no, , ) is a Spanish heist crime drama television series created by Álex Pina. The series traces two long-prepared heists led by the Professor (Álvaro Morte), one on the Royal Mint of Spain, and ...

. *

Ivan Marević Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgar ...

as Ivan Telebar * Ena Begović as Mirta Mešog *

Goran Navojec Goran Navojec (born 10 October 1970) is a Croatian actor and musician. In his three decade long career, Navojec has starred in numerous films including ''The Three Men of Melita Žganjer'' (1998), ''God Forbid a Worse Thing Should Happen'' (2002 ...

as Baja Mešog * Nadežda Perišić-Nola as Marguerita * Zvonimir Zoričić as Zlatko Trlin * Nada Abrus as Malvina *

Boris Buzančić Boris Buzančić (13 March 1929 – 9 October 2014) was a Croatian actor and politician who served as the 47th Mayor of Zagreb between 1990 and 1993. A native of Bjelovar, Buzančić began acting very early. He appeared in numerous films and ...

as Senjak *

Mia Oremović Mia Oremović (31 July 1918 – 24 July 2010) was a Croatian theatre, film and television actress. Selected filmography *''It Was Not in Vain'' (1957) *'' H-8'' (1958) *''I Have Two Mothers and Two Fathers'' (1968) *''One Song a Day Takes Mischie ...

as Gost * Filip Šovagović as poručnik Hunjeta * Tamara Garbajs as Magdalena * Zoran Čubrilo as "Crnac" na motoru *

Vera Zima Vjeročka Zimova (21 March 1953 – 7 November 2020), better known as Vera Zima, was a Croatian actress. She appeared in more than fifty films since 1975. She was of paternal Slovak descent. Selected filmography References External links ...

as nadstojnica časne službe *

Dejan Aćimović Dejan Aćimović (born 20 May 1963) is a Bosnian-Croatian actor and film director. He was born in Čapljina, SFR Yugoslavia, now Bosnia and Herzegovina. As an actor, his work included principal and supporting roles in numerous films, both wi ...

as Šaban * Hrvoje Klobučar as tupi domobran * Ante Čedo Martinić as Ante Moškov

Critical reception

The Croatian Cinema Database website's entry for the movie gives the film a largely negative review, noting that screenwriter Ivan Aralica and director Jakov Sedlar "turned the film into an expression of caricatured intolerance towards (Serbian and Montenegrin) partisans" and that its "hate speech and utter nonsense" overshadows any potential it has. Historian Jelena Batinić writes that, despite the film's high production value and prominent Croatian actors, it "rarely rises above the level of a propaganda pamphlet with crude ethnic stereotyping" as the mostly Serb Partisans are portrayed as vicious murderers and Croat prisoners as innocent victims. Professor Dijana Jelača of

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

lists ''Četverored'' as among the post-Yugoslav nationalist revisionist films which use events of the past, reconstructing them in order to "warn generations to come" of the never-ending threats to nationhood. In this case, communism is presented as being on equal footing, if not worse, than fascism. Film scholar Dino Murtic describes the film as "perhaps the most inglorious example of the cinema of self-victimisation" made during the 1990s as Yugoslavia had disintegrated.

References

External links

* 1999 films World War II films 1990s war drama films Films directed by Jakov Sedlar Films based on Croatian novels Croatian war drama films 1999 drama films Films set in 1945 {{war-drama-film-stub