“Balkan Spy” – “Just admit it nicely, and Đuro will forgive you for beating you up!”

“The central office may make a mistake once, but not a hundred times. Listen, pal, maybe you dialed the wrong number, but you got the one you were looking for. What, don’t you understand? Well, you’ll understand. I’ll screw your mother! Get lost, you scumbag.”

“Balkan Spy” is a drama by Dušan Kovačević, directed by Božidar Nikolić and Dušan Kovačević, about the political paranoia of Ilija Čvorović, a former Stalinist who spent two years in prison. Following his paranoia, he persecutes his tenant, a returnee from France, whom he sees as an agent of dark imperialist forces, a state enemy, and a spy. “Balkan Spy” is a dramatic work written in two acts, each with five titled chapters.

The main characters of the drama are – besides Ilija Čvorović, also Danica Čvorović, his wife, daughter Sonja, brother Đura, and the titular “Balkan Spy” Petar Jakovljević, a tailor and a returnee from Paris.

The film was made in 1984, and the roles are played by Danilo Bata Stojković (Ilija Čvorović), Zvonko Lepetić (brother Đura), Mira Banjac (Danica Čvorović), Sonja Savić (Sonja Čvorović), Bora Todorović (Petar Jakovljević), Branka Petrić (journalist), Milivoje Tomić (doctor), Velimir Bata Živojinović (pancake vendor), Milan Štrljić (Inspector Dražić), Milan Mihailović (painter), Predrag Laković (professor)…

At the Pula Film Festival in 1984, the film “Balkan Spy” won the Golden Arena for Best Film, as well as the award for Best Male Performance for Danilo Bata Stojković in the role of Ilija Čvorović.

The character of Ilija Čvorović is one of the most memorable in Yugoslav cinema, and the carefully chosen set design and ambiance in which the film was shot have made some of the scenes and lines remain forever in the audience’s memory.

“If they remember me on Security Day, they remember me. If they don’t, no big deal. That was my duty, to work!”