Monday, August 10, 2020

Innocence Unprotected (1968)

 

IMDb plot summary: Documentary about the famous Serbian athlete and movie enthusiast who made a feature film during the Nazi occupation of Belgrade and had some problems after the liberation because of that.
Directed by Dusan Makavejev.

This is... kind of fascinating. I think I'll just turn to Wikipedia to explain what it is: "Innocence Unprotected is composed of footage of the 1941 film of the same name. Innocence Unprotected was originally filmed in 1941 under the title Nevinost bez zaštite which was meant to be the first sound feature film made in Serbia. ... Nevinost bez zaštite was never released due to the Nazi censors while ironically later during the Yugoslav communist period some accused and condemned it as being pro-Nazi. ...In 1968, Makavejev established the film and expanded it with newsreel footage and interviews with surviving cast members."

So it's like... half compilation video, half documentary, and it is intriguing as this little slice of history. The original film is pretty simplistic, with some very dated acting styles that don't transfer well, but the clips of the director/writer/actor's strong man act are impressive, and seeing all of these interviews and movie clips interspersed with newsreel footage about the war at the time helps put it in context in an interesting way. It's not something I care about rewatching, but it's pretty unique as a film and probably worth a watch just for that.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Innocence Unprotected < The Mistress of Spices
Innocence Unprotected > Steve Jobs
Innocence Unprotected > Burlesque
Innocence Unprotected < The Fourth Kind
Innocence Unprotected < Coraline
Innocence Unprotected > Mr. Holland's Opus
Innocence Unprotected < Touch of Evil
Innocence Unprotected > And Then There Were None
Innocence Unprotected < Anchors Aweigh
Innocence Unprotected < Birdman of Alcatraz
Innocence Unprotected < Gypsy (1962)
Innocence Unprotected < Rigoletto
Final spot: #1929 out of 3187, or 39%.

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