Produced in 1949 by Zvezda film, "Barba Žvane" was Vjekoslav Afrić's second effort as a director after the war, and was produced together with the students of the newly founded film high school in Belgrade.
The plot of the film, which is based on the novel Volovi dolaze (The Oxen Are Coming) by Drago Gervais - no relation of Ricky Gervais, to the best of my knowledge - is simple. Partisans are starving to death in the Gorski Kotar area of Croatia. Barba Žvane, a sterotypically canny peasant farmer, uses various tricks to sneak a herd of cattle from Istria through enemy lines to the hungry partisans. A happy end, in other words, for the partisans, if not for the cattle.
The film begins with a communist rally that is interrupted by the Germans. After heroically proclaiming that Tito will return to liberate the area, the ring leader of the communists is gunned down by the Germans.
The partisans may be starving, but this being socialist realism, they are also singing happily in praise of Marshal Tito, as in the picture here.
Barba Žvane is played by Dragomir Felba (1921-2006), who though only in his twenties at the time was made up to look like a rugged, middle-aged peasant. He does quite a good job in the part of a peasant who uses his wily common sense to endure even interrogation by Nazis. Though he suffers several setbacks, Barba Žvane completes his mission. Driving home the point that efforts like his were part of the war effort, the directors use stock footage of Allied planes, tanks, and artillery fighting against the Axis.
Unlike "Slavica," "Barba Žvane" was not a success, neither with the public nor with critics. This is understandable, as it is definitely a weaker film, but it does have some worthwhile moments.
