''Montevideo, God Bless You!'' (; internationally titled ''Montevideo, Taste of a Dream'') is a 2010 Serbian

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Dragan Bjelogrlić Dragan "Bjela" Bjelogrlić ( sr-Cyrl, Драган "Бјела" Бјелогрлић, ; born 10 October 1963) is a Serbian actor, director and producer. Career Bjelogrlić made his acting debut as a 15-year old, playing Sava Jovanović Sirogojn ...

about the events leading to the participation of the

Yugoslavia national football team The Yugoslavia national football team; ; ; represented Yugoslavia in international association football. Although the team mainly represented the pre-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the post-war SFR Yugoslavia, various iterations of the state ...

at the first FIFA World Cup in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

in July 1930. The film gained considerable media attention throughout 2010 and achieved significant box office success in Serbia since its release on December 21, 2010. The entire project has been hugely successful regionally thus far. More than 520,000 people in Serbia saw the first film, which won numerous awards. The story is loosely based on the novel ''Montevideo, Bog te video'' by the prominent Serbian sports journalist Vladimir Stanković. He drew inspiration to write a romanticized depiction of the late 1920s Serbia and the events that popularized the game of football in the country after having watched the American film '' The Game of Their Lives''. The film was awarded the 'Audience Choice Award' for Best Film in the main competition program at the 33rd

Moscow International Film Festival The Moscow International Film Festival (, Transliteration, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is a film festival first held in Moscow in 1935 and became regular since 1959. From its inception to ...

. It was also Serbia's official submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards, but did not make the final shortlist. A sequel, '' See You in Montevideo'', was released on January 14, 2014. Part of the movie was filmed in the city of

La Laguna LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

, and part of the movie was filmed in the city of Trieste.

Plot

In 1930

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, eleven passionate, mostly anonymous but very talented soccer players and their journey from the cobblestone streets of impoverished Belgrade neighborhoods to the formation of the national team before the very first

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

in faraway

. So far away that the country's capital,

, seems more a distant dream than a familiar reality. Named after the city where the inaugural World Cup was held, director

's adaptation of journalist Vladimir Stanković's best-selling book centers on the relationship between the two top players: natural talent and poor boy Tirke (

Miloš Biković Miloš Biković ( sr-Cyrl, Милош Биковић, ; born January 13, 1988) is a Serbian and Russian actor and producer. His best known films are box office hits ''Serf (film), Serf'', ''Serf 2'', ''The Challenge (2023 film), The Challenge'' ...

) and playboy superstar Moša ( Petar Strugar). The two young men eventually become friends when they're thrown together on the front line of the dominant local team,

BSK Belgrade OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club''), also known in English as OFK Belgrade and currently referred to as OFK Beograd Mozzart ...

. As the club hierarchy is faced with the challenge of keeping the squad afloat, the opportunity arises to create a national team. However, team unity is strained when Tirke and Moša clash over beautiful women. Rosa ( Danina Jeftić), the voluptuous, small-town innocent who adores Tirke, but her soccer-mad uncle conspires to set her up with Moša; and vampish Valerija (Nina Janković), a rich

flapper Flappers were a subculture of young Western women prominent after the First World War and through the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee length was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their ...

who seduces Moša and finds much fun in pitting him against Tirke. The initial doubt that surrounded their personal and professional lives is transformed into a shared ambition to prove themselves in Montevideo; as a result, a story about friendship, enthusiasm, persistence and love for the game is unraveled.

Cast

as Aleksandar "Tirke" Tirnanić * Petar Strugar as Blagoje "Moša" Marjanović *

Nina Janković Nina may refer to: * Nina (name), a feminine given name and surname Acronyms * National Iraqi News Agency, a news service in Iraq *Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on the campus of Norwegian University of Science and Technology * No incom ...

as Valerija, an eccentric Belgrade artist and painter, who hangs out among Belgrade's elite * Danina Jeftić as Rosa, Tirke's love interest, who works at her uncle Rajko's tavern * Mima Karadžić as Rajko, owner of the local tavern * Branimir Brstina as Bogdan Brica *

Vojin Ćetković Vojin Ćetković ( sr-cyr, Војин Ћетковић; born 22 August 1971) is a Serbian actor. He is best known for his role in the TV series ''Porodično blago''. Selected filmography Television Film Personal life He is married to Slobod ...

as Mihajlo "Andrejka" Andrejević * Nebojša Ilić as Boško "Dunster" Simonović, who becomes the national team's coach later in the film * Nikola Ðuričko as Živković *

Sergej Trifunović Sergej Trifunović ( sr-cyr, Сергеј Трифуновић, ; born 2 September 1972) is a Serbian actor, comedian, singer, politician and citizen activist.

as Načelnik Komatina * Viktor Savić as Milutin "Milutinac" Ivković * Predrag Vasić as Little Stanoje, a shoeshine boy, he considers himself as Tirke's best friend, and he lives in poor conditions and has a leg deformity *

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 Bezobr ...

as Bora Jovanović * Boda Ninković as Kustodić *

Anita Mančić Anita Mančić ( sr-cyr, Анита Манчић; born 30 September 1968) is a Serbian actress. She appeared in more than forty films since 1990. Selected filmography Bulevar revolucije References External links

* 1968 births ...

as Đurđa * Marko Živić as Isak * Aleksandar Radojčić as Milorad "Balerina" Arsenijević * Uroš Jovicić as Đorđe "Ðokica Nosonja" Vujadinović * Bojan Krivokapić as Momčilo "Gusar" Đokić * Andrija Kuzmanović as Milovan "Jakša" Jakšić * Ivan Zekić as Ivan "Ivica" Bek * Nenad Heraković as Dragoslav "Vampir" Mihajlović *

Aleksandar Filimonović Aleksandar Filimonović is a Serbian-American film and television actor, writer and producer best known for his roles in the films ''Dolemite Is My Name'', '':sr:Beli lavovi, White Lions'' and ''Montevideo, God Bless You!, Montevideo'', and in the ...

as Ljubiša "Leo" Stevanović * Rade Ćosić as Teofilo Spasojević * Milan Nikitović as Branislav "Bane" Sekulić * Tamara Dragićević as Eli * Branislav Lečić as King Alexander

Accolades

DVD and TV series

The movie was released on DVD during 2011. On 1 January 2012 it was broadcast on

RTS1 RTS 1 (), known as RTS Program One (), or Prvi (), is a Serbian television channel that is part of Radio Television of Serbia (RTS). It was established on August 23, 1958 as the first television station in Serbia. History RTS 1 was the first te ...

, achieving stellar ratings with over 3.1 million viewers. The extended version of the film, including 5 hours of footage unseen in the theatrical cut, began to be broadcast as the eponymous television series on RTS starting 13 February 2012, and onwards weekly every Monday in the 8pm prime time slot. Nine episodes aired, with the first season concluding on 9 April 2012. The second series, titled ''Na putu za Montevideo'', (season two) began on 31 December 2012, this time airing Sundays. The plot now moved to the preparations for the long trip to Uruguay. Nine more episodes were shown concluding on 10 March 2013. In July 2013, the first series began airing in Croatia on

RTL Televizija RTL (previously known as RTL Televizija) is a Croatian free-to-air television network founded on 30 April 2004. It was owned by the RTL Group from 2004 to 2022. Since 1 June 2022, it is owned by the CME Group. It is the second commercial television ...

. On 3 August 2013, ''Montevideo, God Bless You!'', aired on the Chinese

CCTV-6 China Movie Channel refers both to a government-affiliated production agency and to the movie-focused television channel CCTV-6 operated under its direction. The agency, officially known as the "Satellite TV Show Production Facility",, is a divi ...

network."Montevideo" gledali milioni Kineza
B92, 3 August 2013 On 15 January 2014, the sequel feature film '' Montevideo, vidimo se!'' got released in theaters.

References

External links