Who is Singing Over There

One of the most popular films in Yugoslavia is Slobodan Sijan’s 1980 classic comedy Who is Singing Over There? and it’s not hard to see why. The film goes along the course of a bus route. Here a group of citizens composed of all different eccentricities journey together to get to Belgrade. Sijan sketches out each character’s personality; he finds their quirks, and their various reactions to one another and the particular problems that arrive during the course of the trip. The bus takes us through the rural Yugoslavian landscape where the route ends in Belgrade. What we encounter on the trip are many conflicts that are witty and comical in the way they arise and or result.

All of the characters in the film exhibit a wide spectrum of particularities. Sijan emphasizes these particular character types. These “types” he uses to create metaphors for the different people amongst the different political and socio-economical strata of society. The numerous people who are picked up are forced to cooperate amongst one another. Here they create groups or allies while maintaining what is in their general interest. This same idea can be applied to humanity on a whole, that we associate with people who we feel work with what is in our general interest (not necessarily best interest however). For instance, near the film’s end, when the man’s purse ends up missing the Germanophile assumes that the gypsies stole it. This cultural and social stereotype has the group of people on the bus unanimously agree with the Germanophile where they then accuse and abuse the two boys for something they didn’t do. It is never revealed to the characters that their assumption about the boys was wrong, however Sijan decided to show the audience that detail. This emphasizes the social lack of empathy amongst the group. There are numerous instances when he shows these differences between classes and social behaviors. Another example of this comes when the young married couple goes into the woods to have sex while the others, in a voyeuristic-manner, watch. The Germanophile comments on the uncouth behavior and remarks on the obscenity of it, however, his watching them in the act is no less perverse than the act itself.

We also go through the film watching the characters develop. This in many ways involves the growing attachment and or affection between characters. This is specifically the case between the bus owner and his son. The son’s childish behavior doesn’t limit him as a character. He seems to be the most honest character, and the only one who ever enjoys himself. The son joins the resistance army, this forces the bus owner (his father) to separate from his son. Not only that but from the film’s context we are aware that his son is probably going to end up in the war (which means his son may die). This detail like the detail about the wallet is knowledge that we have and the characters don’t. This information forces us to ponder the worth of these relationships. It also influences us to think about the value of human relationships, and human temporality. Sijan explores human destruction and differentiation on a personal scale and juxtaposes it with the destruction of the war, which is what ends up concluding the movie.