Ivan Aralica

The story about the Bleiburg massacre, seen from a Croatian Home Defenders point of view.

Socialist Bosnia, 1981. In the small town of Međugorje, a group of children tell the local priest, a Croat named Father Joza, that the Virgin Mary appeared before them. Ecstatic about the prospect of a miracle, he publicly announces that he believes in the apparition, putting a target on his back, with the communist authorities deciding to start their own investigation into the case.

The movie takes place in the early 18th century on the borders between Bosnia and Dalmatia, the crossroad between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice. It deals with issues relating to the region's native Croats as they struggle between to live between two empires and two faiths: Catholicism and Islam.

In this politically charged drama, the turbulent times just following Marshal Tito's rejection of ties to Moscow comes to life. Interestingly, even in the first few years after the Yugoslavian leader's death, the subject matter of this film was considered too hot to handle, and the director had to appeal to the courts for permission to shoot it. In the story, Martin is a schoolboy with a sense of the absurd and a willingness to use ridicule to amuse himself and his classmates. He has an uncle who is high up in the nation's bureaucracy who protects him and his grandfather now that his father has died. His grandfather is too stubborn to give his farm to the local farming collective, and Martin himself is in hot water with the principal for making fun of his girlfriend, one of the students at the high school. However, as long as the uncle is able to protect them, they remain out of hot water.