An ingenious portrait of the love lives of two far-from-heroic workers in a copper factory, Makavejev’s splendid debut bravely overrides the rules imposed by the socialist realism canon. The film chooses to focus on the individual rather than the collective, implying the inherent divisions even within the core of the working class and meticulously deconstructing the role model of the infallible socialist man. Before shooting began, Makavejev spent a month in the town of Bor, interviewing local workers, factory heads and union leaders, using this documentary-like groundwork as a launching pad for brilliant narrative and fictional experimentation.
Man Is Not a Bird
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- Direction: Dušan Makavejev
- Script: Dušan Makavejev
- Cinematography: Aleksander Petković, Branko Perak
- Editing: Ljubica Nešić
- Music: Petar Bergamo
- Actors: Milena Dravić, Janez Vrhovec, Eva Ras, Stole Aranđelović, Boris Dvornik, Roko Ćirković
- Production: Avala Film
- Producers: Dušan Perković
- Art Direction: Dragoljub Ivkov
- Format: 35mm
- Color: B&W
- Production Country: Yugoslavia
- Production Year: 1965
- Duration: 78΄
- Contact: British Film Institute, bookings.films@bfi.org.uk
- Awards/Distinctions: Best Actor – Pula FF of Yugoslavian Films
Dušan Makavejev
Dušan Makavejev (1932–2019) is by far the premier figure in Yugoslavian film history. His work, deeply rooted in his native land’s experience, persistently defied the political and sexual taboos of his time and invited censorship in dozens of countries. Highly allegorical and of dreamlike texture, his films represent a sardonic and anarchist view on all kinds of oppressive regimes, sending out a universal message of liberation.
Filmography
1965 Man is Not a Bird
1967 Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator
1968 Innocence Unprotected (doc)
1971 W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism
1974 Sweet Movie
1981 Montenegro
1985 The Coca-Cola Kid
1988 Manifesto
1993 Gorilla Bathes at Noon
