---
title: "Underground"
year: 1995
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/underground"
fi1m_id: "underground"
imdb_id: "tt0114787"
tmdb_id: 11902
wikidata_id: "Q156516"
fi1m_score: 66
critics_score: 71
critics_reviews: 10
published: "2026-09-13"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:18.340303+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Underground (1995)

Directed by Emir Kusturica · 2h 50m · Comedy, Drama, War

## Identity

Underground

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/underground
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** underground
- **IMDb ID:** tt0114787
- **TMDB ID:** 11902
- **Wikidata ID:** Q156516
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114787/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/11902, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q156516

**Fi1m score: 66** · Critics 71 from 10 reviews

*In a sentence:* The slapstick earns its laughs, but 170 minutes is a long time to be shouted at

> Emir Kusturica’s *Underground* has enough black comedy and forceful staging to reward a patient viewer. Its 170 minutes also contain too much repetition, and its people often struggle to matter as much as its spectacle.

## Synopsis

*Underground* follows Marko Dren (Predrag ‘Miki’ Manojlović), Petar ‘Crni’ Popara (Lazar Ristovski) and Natalija Zovkov (Mirjana Joković) across decades of Yugoslavian history. War and political deception shape a story in which ideas of heroism meet slapstick, black comedy and suffering. Slavko Štimac plays Ivan Dren, with Ernst Stötzner as Franz and Mirjana Karanović as Vera. Emir Kusturica directs from a screenplay co-written with Dušan Kovačević. The film moves between comedy and war drama as it considers the lies people accept and the damage they do.

## Review

Emir Kusturica’s *Underground* asks how people live with political lies, and how readily they help to keep them going. It approaches decades of Yugoslavian history through war, black comedy and absurdity, with little interest in behaving like a sober historical account. We recommend it cautiously, for the humour and the elaborate staging rather than any particular clarity about the history. At 170 minutes, it asks for more patience than its story always earns.

The screenplay by Dušan Kovačević and Kusturica is strongest in its black-comic subplots, where deceit produces situations worth watching rather than merely condemning. Slapstick gives the film a useful way of making heroic behaviour look ridiculous. We laughed at the broad physical comedy, then grew weary of how insistently the film returned to the same pitch. A joke can remain funny while the sequence containing it begins to drag, and that happens too often here.

Vilko Filač’s cinematography helps make the elaborately staged action absorbing even when the wider story is difficult to follow. There is pleasure in watching so much activity organised within an image, and Kusturica has the confidence to sustain these crowded passages. Miljen ‘Kreka’ Kljaković’s production design supports the action on a scale that suits the director’s appetite for excess. The trouble comes when looking at everything becomes more rewarding than following what anyone is doing, which is a recurring problem rather than an occasional distraction.

Branka Čeperac’s editing faces the difficult task of managing that much incident across a long running time. Individual passages have momentum, but their accumulation does not give the whole film a satisfying pace. Goran Bregović’s music suits the boisterousness, although its contribution is less helpful when we need some distance from the commotion. There are stretches when another surge of energy is precisely what the film does not need, and the editing gives us too little relief between them.

The cruel jokes make human weakness recognisable, and their ugliness sometimes makes the suffering harder to dismiss. Those moments give the comedy a seriousness that its noisy delivery can initially disguise. Elsewhere, the people become difficult to care about because they are being pushed through so much exaggerated behaviour. Kovačević and Kusturica keep political delusion in view more reliably than they sustain our interest in the individuals caught up in it.

War comedy does not owe us good taste, and we would not want this one tidied into respectable solemnity. Kusturica’s willingness to risk being abrasive is part of what makes the film worth considering, particularly when the humour makes heroism look foolish. What we want is a sharper sense of when a joke has done its work and when a person needs something beyond another grotesque flourish. Several of the longer passages would benefit from stopping before their energy turns into repetition.

Give *Underground* an evening of its own rather than trying to fit it around something else. The caveat is not simply its length: an appetite for unruly comedy matters more than a willingness to sit still. If the attraction is a clear account of Yugoslavian history, choose another film.

*Fi1m score 66, published 13 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics like Underground, and the praise gathers around the same things: the scale and energy of Kusturica’s staging, the circus-like set-pieces, and the way lowbrow slapstick sits beside an allegory about Yugoslavia’s political self-deception. Several describe it as sprawling and feverish, a comedy with real pain underneath, and more than one singles out the final sequence as the point where the humour and the sorrow finally meet.

The reservations cluster around length and purpose. Even admirers concede that three hours leave the viewer worn out, and the sceptics go further. Empire finds it rambling and increasingly hard to follow after a strong opening, Time Out cannot work out what the allegory is for, and The Independent calls it wilful and short on feeling for its people. The spread is wide, from wholehearted enthusiasm to outright irritation, and the sharpest dissent comes largely from the British press.

## Straight answers

**Is Underground worth watching?**

*Underground* is worth watching for anyone with an appetite for unruly black comedy and elaborate staging, and we scored it 66. Emir Kusturica's slapstick earns its laughs and the crowded action is absorbing, but 170 minutes brings too much repetition, and the people matter less than the spectacle. Anyone wanting a clear account of Yugoslavian history should choose another film.

**How long is Underground, and what is it rated?**

*Underground* runs 2h 50m. It is a comedy and drama film.

**Where can I watch Underground in the US?**

*Underground* is streaming on The Roku Channel and Amazon Prime Video in the US, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from $2.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is Underground, and is it suitable for children?**

*Underground* carries a UK 15 certificate and is not suitable for children. It is a war comedy that deals in cruel jokes, political deceit and suffering, and its grotesque humour is deliberately abrasive rather than gentle. Older teenagers who can take black comedy about war will manage; the squeamish and anyone expecting good taste may find it hard going.

**How does Underground compare to To Be or Not to Be?**

*Underground* and [*To Be or Not to Be*](https://film.one/film/to-be-or-not-to-be) both find wartime comedy in deception, but Ernst Lubitsch's film is the tighter and better controlled of the two. Kusturica's is louder, longer and more excessive, and its people struggle to matter as much as its staging. Choose the Lubitsch for sharp farce and the Kusturica for sprawling, abrasive black comedy.

**What should I watch after Underground?**

After *Underground*, try [*The Tin Drum*](https://film.one/film/the-tin-drum) (1979, Fi1m 78): Another unruly wartime satire, with grotesque comedy and an awkward historical conscience. Then [*To Be or Not to Be*](https://film.one/film/to-be-or-not-to-be) (1942, Fi1m 87): Actors confront wartime danger through deception, with far tighter control of the farce; and [*The Death of Stalin*](https://film.one/film/the-death-of-stalin) (2017, Fi1m 83): Political terror and personal vanity make vicious comedy, without the sprawling running time.

### Reviews we read (10)

- **Los Angeles Times** (90/100, inferred): The critic finds it a sprawling, rowdy, vital film laced with outrageous absurdist dark humor and unspeakable pain, a dazzling epic allegory that sustains passion and sorrow across decades of Yugoslavian history. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jan-30-ca-13528-story.html)
- **Slant Magazine**, Ed Gonzalez (90/100, inferred): The critic hails the film as the most important of the last 25 years and a sweltering, morally inquisitive work of political fiction that laments humanity’s propensity for self-destruction. He singles out its deliriously metaphorical blend of lowbrow slapstick, sophisticated war commentary, and magical realist elements for particular praise. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/underground/)
- **The New York Times**, Janet Maslin (90/100, inferred): The critic describes a wild, sprawling feverish whimsical allegory with a devastating central idea about political delusion and the fate of Yugoslavia, praising its robust tale, bursts of humor, and magnificent ending that melds tragedy with optimism. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/library/film/underground-film-review.html)
- **The Times**, Kate Muir (★★★★☆): The critic hails Kusturica’s film as his masterpiece, a hallucinogenic comic romp through Yugoslavia’s troubled history. She singles out its surreal, circus-like portrayal of the repetitive insanity of conflict for particular note. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/wildlife-nature/article/classic-film-of-the-week-underground-1995-cor-cw30d8970)
- **Variety**, Deborah Young (70/100, inferred): The critic calls it a three-hour steamroller circus that leaves the viewer dazed and exhausted but mightily impressed, with energy and a condemnation of communism and war making it emotionally engaging at Cannes. [Read](https://variety.com/1995/film/reviews/underground-3-1200441539/)
- **The AV Club**, Joshua Klein (60/100, inferred): The critic calls the film a bizarre, often repellent anti-war parable that takes too long to state the obvious but hits scattered high notes along the way. He singles out the surreal atmosphere and Lubitsch-like black comedy subplots for praise while criticizing the shrill tone, annoying characters, and excessive length. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/underground-1798194771)
- **The Independent**, Adam Mars-Jones (55/100, inferred): The critic finds the film no masterpiece, too wilful and ramshackle with little feeling for its people, but notes Kusturica's striking imagery and lyricism in the final sequence that evokes Tarkovsky. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/vision-improbable-1340688.html)
- **Empire**, William Thomas (40/100, inferred): The review calls the film rambling and over-ambitious, with events engaging early on but becoming inaccessible and confusing afterward, stronger on style than substance. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/underground-review/)
- **Time Out**, GA (40/100, inferred): The critic praises Kusturica's technical virtuosity in staging hectic large-scale set-pieces but finds it hard to discern the exact purpose of this epic allegory about political deception and heroism. They suggest that behind the sensational imagery there is ultimately less substance than meets the eye. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/underground-2)
- **Collider**, Namwene Mukabwa (90/100, inferred): The critic hails Emir Kusturica's 1995 film as a genre-defying masterpiece that blends war, comedy, fantasy, and romance into a chaotic yet beautiful cinematic experience. They praise its purposeful direction, surreal humor, and ability to find beauty in chaos while challenging conventional storytelling. [Read](https://collider.com/underground-1995-movie/)

## Details

- **Director:** Emir Kusturica
- **Director:** Emir Kusturica
- **Screenplay:** Dušan Kovačević, Emir Kusturica
- **Story:** Dušan Kovačević
- **Cinematography:** Vilko Filač
- **Editor:** Branka Čeperac
- **Music:** Goran Bregović
- **Production design:** Miljen 'Kreka' Kljaković
- **Costume design:** Nebojša Lipanović
- **Producer:** Alain Depardieu, Milorad Vučelić
- **Cast:** Miki Manojlović as Marko Dren; Lazar Ristovski as Petar 'Crni' Popara; Mirjana Joković as Natalija Zovkov; Slavko Štimac as Ivan Dren; Ernst Stötzner as Franz; Srđan Todorović as Jovan Popara; Mirjana Karanović as Vera; Milena Pavlović Čučilović as Jelena
- **Runtime:** 2h 50m
- **Release (the US):** 25 October 1995
- **Genres:** Comedy, Drama, War
- **Also in:** [Palme d'Or winners](https://film.one/collections/palme-dor.md) (Winner, 1995)
- **Budget:** $14 million
- **Box office:** $182,134
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYTvmLvLchs

## Where to watch in the US

- The Roku Channel: add-on, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $2.99, sd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $8.99, sd

*Checked 2026-09-13.*

Also available in: FR, GB, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- International Submission to the Academy Awards 1996: International Submission to the Academy Awards (nominated)
- Lumière Award for Best Foreign Film 1996: Lumière Award for Best Foreign Film (won)
- Cannes Film Festival 1995: Palme d'Or (won)

## If you liked this

- *The Tin Drum* (1979), Fi1m 78: Another unruly wartime satire, with grotesque comedy and an awkward historical conscience. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-tin-drum.md)
- *The Firemen's Ball* (1967): A smaller, drier political farce in which collective incompetence becomes painfully funny.
- *To Be or Not to Be* (1942), Fi1m 87: Actors confront wartime danger through deception, with far tighter control of the farce. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/to-be-or-not-to-be.md)
- *Songs from the Second Floor* (2000): For more surreal social despair, delivered through stillness rather than constant commotion.
- *The Death of Stalin* (2017), Fi1m 83: Political terror and personal vanity make vicious comedy, without the sprawling running time. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-death-of-stalin.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/underground