Once Upon a Time There Was a Country

Three specific times periods in the life and/or showing the personal and geopolitical legacies of Belgradian friends Petar Popara--affectionately referred to as Blacky--and Marko Dren are presented: during WWII from 1941 to 1944, 1941 when the Nazis started bombing Belgrade; 1961 during the height of the Cold War; and near the start of the Yugolav Wars. What the men have in common are love for their homeland and opportunism in looking out for themselves. Each will just as easily sacrifice himself to help the other as they will sacrifice each other to suit their own needs at any given time. The one constant through these phases of their friendship is the fact that shortly after the start of the Nazi bombing in Belgrade, they have hidden a number of their friends and family in Marko's grandfather's cellar to escape capture from the Nazis. The cellar is converted into a munitions factory, those living there making it their mission to make weapons to defeat the Nazis. Marko and Blacky, who have continued to live above ground "to do their part" to end the war, are living separately from the others and when the war ends they don't tell those who are underground, so they just continue their underground life for their own safety. The world continues without them, and their names are listed as casualties of the bombing. Those affected by Marko and Blacky's actions include: Blacky's headstrong wife Vera; Natalija Zovkov, an ethnic Russian actress with whom both men fall in love; Jovan, the first child born in the cellar; Ivan, Marko's brother who is an animal keeper at the Belgrade Zoo when the bombing starts; and Soni, a chimpanzee Ivan saves from the zoo.