How a Yugoslavian War Epic Convinced Pablo Picasso to Work for Wine
In short: The 1969 film Battle of Neretva remains the most expensive production in Yugoslav history. Beyond its massive budget and cast of global stars, the project is famous for a unique promotional poster designed by Pablo Picasso, who reportedly accepted only a case of fine Yugoslav wine as his payment.
Directed by Veljko Bulajić, Battle of Neretva was a state-sponsored epic depicting the 1943 Fourth Enemy Offensive, a strategic Axis assault against Yugoslav Partisans. The production was a monumental undertaking, shot over 16 months with funding from over 58 self-managed Yugoslav companies. It featured a massive cast, including international icons like Orson Welles, Yul Brynner, and Sergei Bondarchuk, who were drawn to the project by the significant financial backing approved by Josip Broz Tito.
The scale of the production was unprecedented. To achieve cinematic realism, the crew utilized a battalion of 10,000 soldiers from the Yugoslav People's Army and repurposed Soviet T-34 tanks to stand in for German Panzers. The filmmakers even constructed and destroyed four full-scale villages and a fortress. Perhaps most notoriously, the production team attempted to destroy a real railway bridge in Jablanica twice for the cameras, only to find the footage unusable due to excessive smoke. Ultimately, the iconic bridge destruction scene was filmed using a model on a soundstage in Prague.
The film's legacy is as complex as its production. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and remains highly regarded, appearing in a 1999 poll as one of the best Yugoslav films ever made. The movie exists in numerous versions with varying runtimes and soundtracks; while the original score by Vladimir Kraus Rajteric accompanies German and Croatian prints, English-speaking versions feature a score by Bernard Herrmann. The narrative itself weaves a dense web of moral conflict, following characters through the brutal realities of World War II, from the defection of an Italian captain to the desperate sacrifices of Partisan soldiers at an old cemetery.
The financial estimates for the film vary wildly, with some sources suggesting costs between $4.5 million and $12 million. Adjusted for inflation, these figures represent a staggering investment for the era. Despite the logistical nightmares and the shifting nature of its various international cuts, the film stands as a testament to the ambition of Yugoslav cinema during the Cold War.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Battle of Neretva (film)
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