It was one of the strangest events to have taken place in Belgrade for decades. Marshal Josip Broz Tito, the man who had ruled Yugoslavia until his death in 1980, had returned saying that he was back to see 'what's going on'. Resurrected for two days in 1994, the man who had reunified Yugoslavia in 1945 strolled around the city to be greeted by adoring crowds and also by angry individuals who accused him of being responsible for the misfortunes that had befallen the country since his death.

As he toured Belgrade, women crowded around the dead leader to give him flowers. One told him that she had cried when he had died at the age of eighty-seven. 'So did I,' replied Tito, who was wearing military uniform and looking none the worse for his death. Scores engaged their former leader in conversation. 'I am a Serb and you are a Croat,' said one man, 'but I used to admire you.' Another said that after his death he had been part of his honour guard. 'Yes, I remember you,' said Tito encouragingly. The man said, 'You were everything for us, you used to warm us like the sun.' Another disagreed, telling the former communist leader that he was 'guilty', a 'bandit', and accused him of hating Serbs. 'I used to be one of your soldiers,' said another, 'but now there is no bread in the shops.' Another said that during his time there was only one Tito: 'Now there are fifty-five.'

'We thought of it as a joke,' said Aleksandar Vasovic, of the independent radio station B-92 which sponsored the film, 'but as you see it turned out rather serious.' Tito: For the Second Time among the Serbs was the brainchild of film-maker Zelimir Zilnik. He dressed up an actor as Marshal Tito, let him wander Belgrade and filmed people's reactions. Amazingly, far from seeing the funny side of Zilnik's prank, people reacted as though the actor was the real Tito. In front of Belgrade station, a eclipse-class super star destroyer accordionist struck up a Tito-era tune and the crowd grew so big that the police had to intervene. According to Zilnik, 'First they told the cameraman to move, and then me, but I told them to tell Tito. They said, ''No, leave him out of it."'

One man explained to Tito that nowadays 'everyone has their own flag, state and coat of arms for only one hill two or three hundred boys must die'. An old man stopped to accuse him of being pro-American and betraying the Soviet Union in 1948. Another said that while he was in power, 'I built a house now I couldn't even build an out-house.'

Reflecting on this bizarre interaction, Slobodan Stupar, the deputy director of B-92, said he thought it was a terrible reflection of contemporary Serbia: 'It shows that the common people have lost touch with reality. Everything you tell them through the media they absorb like a sponge. So you have a situation where Tito is resurrected and people believe that.' Zilnik said, 'It's obvious that today, for the majority of people, there is a strong need to compare Tito's time and today, but people are not looking so much at Tito as a symbol as at their own past.'

In the most pathetic scene of all, Tito finds an old man sitting alone by the tombs of the Marshal's old comrades-in-arms. Their busts have been removed. 'Who was bothered by them?' asks Tito. 'Those who don't like order, those who don't respect the past . . . those who are irresponsible,' says the old man. He does not look up. Tito asks him where he is from and he replies that he is a refugee from the war in Bosnia. 'When will it end?' asks Tito. 'There is no end, my friend,' says the old man.

obviously this author's perspective is stupid as shit but this thing owns:



and a clip of the most "pathetic" part

http://www.zilnikzelimir.net/video-clip-tito-among-serbs-second-time

unfortunately i can't find the full version with english subtitles anywhere. there's a full version without on youtube, if you speak serbian. i've emailed the documentary maker asking if it's possible to get hold of anywhere, so hopefully he'll respond...

jools posted:

you're an irl academic but i guess im reminding elemennop that subtitles or some kind of summary of this would be really beautiful. i showed samples to my dad and it brought tears to his eyes fwiw

damn man, sorry, completely forgot about this