not as good as all the hype

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

For those who have already seen other Kusturica movies, this one will clearly be seen as a further step in the evolution of a great director. Some of his trademark ingredients are there: the basic carnal pleasures of life, the tragicomic Balkan-style eating/drinking/making love, his deep dislike for war and for any type of inter-ethnic strife, his heartfelt contempt for international organisations which did not prevent the massacres in former Yugoslavia, his entirely non-PC men and women characters, his optimism. These are recurring layers of his Balkan moussaka, but perhaps more are being added, as his optimism appears now turning into a nearly messianic faith that eventually, by helping each other, things will be as good as they can (though not impossibly so, as in Hollywood...). It is not something one might rationally believe, but it is enchanting nonetheless. Ultimately this is a movie about human hope, unpolluted by religious nonsense. There lays its real value.

There is no film maker today to bring to screen the beauty and madness of the Balkans like Kusturica does. 'Life is a miracle' will be seen in time, I believe, as the ultimate film about the Bosnian war.The main character Luka (played by Slavko Stimac) is a train engineer, building a railroad in a remote corner of Yugoslavia, near the Bosnian border. It's the end of the communist rule, and lingering ethnic conflicts start showing up and replace the patriarchal life. When war breaks, Luka's son will be drafted into the Serbian army and fall prisoner, while his wife runs out with a Hungarian singer. The conflict around that he tried to ignore by work, partying and booze invades his life. And still salvation is out there, the day a beautiful Bosnian prisoner (yet a neighbor of yesterday) shows up Luka will build a plan to make an exchange of prisoners between her and her son, but soon will fall in love.Kusturica succeeds to paint in naive painters colors a world that slowly slides from normality into madness, where neighbors become enemies, and violence the rule. He is funny and exuberant, but his humor is the humor of the fool of the village, and his exuberance is the exuberance of desperation. As in many great movies it is love that redeems and brings back human feelings to where they should be. Kusturica builds a world of characters who are tragic and funny, colorful and overall avid to live a life despite of the vicissitudes of history.Wonderful.

There is nothing worse than a talented filmmaker that is trapped inside is own creation. Emir Kusturica is one of those cases. He reinvented the way comedy is done, he showed the world a new approach on making movies. But now... what once was funny, now is stupid, what once was powerful, now is ridiculous, what once was deep, meaningfull but yet entertaining, now is just superficial and cheap laughs. The man that brought us movies like Underground is now reduced to a pale, shallow imitation of himself. Even the music suffers. The brilliance of Goran Bregovic is now replaced with a boring repetitive tune that plays on and on through the entire film. If you're a die hard fan of Kusturica's movies go ahead, but for everyone else, please stick to the good old ones.

I saw this movie on 14 May in France. I was really excited before the movie. I was just waiting for a fantastic Kustrica Movie! Unfortunantly, it was not a good movie. And also, I hate the movie!!! Why? Because, it wasn't a fantastic movie trial and also a political propaganda! I watched this movie with my French friends. When we left the cinema, they started to talk about Serbian Public. They thought that the Bosnian people made lots of bad thing to Serbians. Because, in the movie, it is clearly shown that the war between Serbian and Bosnians was started by the Bosnian Public!!! This is not true! Actually, Kustrica couldn't mention the war... or if he really wants to mention, so he could be realistic! He must think that why the Serbian President is in the court now??? Why there are no Bosnian people in the court?? The answer is so easy, but anyway with the movie, he wanted to change the idea in the people's mind. So, by the way people who have no idea about that war could think that Bosnian people are the ones who started, and behaved in a bad way. Or he showed the Muslim public (Bosnian) different than the real! As a conclusion, this movie is not about Love, not about people have fantastic life, it is just about the Propaganda of the Serbian Public..So, poor Kustrica.. I think you just approached your end in your career.