Variola Vera

Variola Vera (Cyrillic: Вариола вера) is a 1982 Yugoslav film directed by Goran Marković.[1]

This article is about the film. For the disease with the same name, see smallpox.
Variola Vera
Directed byGoran Marković
Written byGoran Marković
Milan Nikolić
Produced byAleksandar Stojanović
StarringRade Šerbedžija,
Erland Josephson,
Rade Marković
Distributed byArt Film 80
Release dates
9 July 1982 (Yugoslavia)
9 September 1982 (IFFR)
11 July 1985 (Hungary)
Running time
110 min
CountrySFR Yugoslavia
LanguageSerbo-Croatian

The subject of the film is based on the 1972 Yugoslav smallpox outbreak. It is a satire of the corruption of the medical and public health field.[1] Although inspired by the real events, the movie features elements of horror.[2] The title refers to the Variola vera virus which causes smallpox.[1]

The film garnered Marković the first prize for best director and the best screenplay at the 1982 Valencia film festival.[1]

A poll of 30 Yugoslav critics and journalists conducted in the newspaper Oslobođenje named it the Yugoslav Film of the Year for 1982.[3]

Plot

The plot of the film follows the events during the smallpox epidemic in the territory of the then SFR Yugoslavia in 1972. The course of the epidemic is monitored, as well as its impact on the psyche and behavior of people who are exposed to the dangers it carries. A Muslim pilgrim returns to the country from Saudi Arabia infected with an unknown disease. Moved from place to place, he dies, and the infection spreads. By the time those in charge realize that it is a disease that was thought to be eradicated, it is already too late - smallpox starts to run rampant. The infected are isolated and left to the logic of a terrible disease that everyone has already forgotten about, considering it a distant past. The film follows the behavior of almost all layers of society in which the epidemic occurred: patients in the hospital, medical staff, ordinary citizens, even politicians, officials of the government at the time. It shows how such a deadly threat helps people show their true colors.

Cast

References
  1. Goulding, Daniel J. (2002). Liberated Cinema: The Yugoslav Experience, 1945-2001. Indiana University Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-25321-582-6.
  2. Schneider, Steven Jay (2019). 100 European Horror Films. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-83871-403-1.
  3. "Yugoslav News Bulletin". Tanjug. 4 January 1983.


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