Nevenka Šain

In the center of the story is an old bachelor, honest man who is unable to prove his honesty because his only proof, a statuette, has been broken. The film is set in the earliest days of socialism after the WW2.

The action takes place in a village where police investigates a murder committed because of an accordion.

Luka Šušmek, a servant, daily laborer and a bit of a vagabond, makes his way through life with his favorite phrase – “either we are, or we are not”, but it causes nothing but troubles to him.

It’s the winter of 1942. A freight train on the section of the Slavonian railway Vinkovci-Nova Gradiska is under a special Gestapo escort. Fleeing misfortune and evil brought by war, the last wagon is the place of encounter of politicians, war smugglers, deserters and tamburitza players.

A corrupt village commissar insists on mounting a production of Hamlet. The clever local teacher, however, casts the son of a man framed for theft as Hamlet, and the commissar as the usurping king, leading to a climax of truly Shakespearean proportions.

The film was created based on the stories of Marino Zurl, head of humanitarian action of the weekly Arena newspapers, who from 1963 to 1971 was looking for the next of kin of children separated from their parents during World War II and taken to camps and shelters. Many of them later grew up in orphanages or foster families, like the three main characters of this film, Ana (Biserka Ipša), Nenad (Mustafa Nadarević) and Toma (Božidar Orešković). Each of them relates in a different way to the past and the possibility that, as young accomplished adults, they can finally solve the secret of their identity and meet members of their real families.

After WW II many young people arrive to Zagreb, among them a young worker Sonja Kacar. She is supposed to participate in the construction of the first generator in the Rade Koncar factory. Because there aren't enough experts and materials in Yugoslavia, the factory counts on help from fellow communist countries, Czechoslovakia and Soviet Union. However, after the Inform Bureau's resolution this help is no longer available. Sonja experiences a great intimate disappointment because Stjepan, who she is in love with, supports Stalin.

A 40 year old former football star and idol of his generation feels that there's a gap between him and the rest of his peers. In order to cross divides over, he makes 20th anniversary party for his school friends he graduated with, only to find out that things are more complicated than he first thought.