Ko to tamo peva? holds a place among Yugoslavia’s film classics. The movie was filmed and released in 1980, but it looks back at a difficult period in the nation’s past: the opening titles state that the events unfold on April 5, 1941, a date that any Yugoslav would have recognized as the day before the German invasion. In an unremarkable rural setting, a bus picks up a varied group of passengers all traveling to Bel…

A bus belonging to “Krstic & son” travels from an unspecified region to Belgrade just before the Nazi invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941. According to Dusan Kovacevic, the author, the narrative draws inspiration from actual occurrences and individuals. Each passenger had their own reasons for needing to reach Belgrade quickly, unaware of what awaited them. Their individual narratives and personalities become …