Filip Grujić and Aleksa Borković: In a World on Fire Humor has Become a Defense Mechanism

The iconic car built by Zastava in Kragujevac – loved by some and ridiculed by others who drove it – was by far the biggest export success of the Yugoslav car industry. When it arrived in the United States, it was welcomed as the most desirable affordable compact car and was even named Car of the Year in 1986. But its fall from grace was just as dramatic, and before long it had earned the reputation of being one of the worst cars ever made. The story of Yugo is told by young men who are younger than Yugo. Their memories are really inherited ones – stories passed down by their parents, not only about the car but also about socialism and the country it came from. That makes the journey feel less like an investigation into how the best car became the worst, and more like a road trip driven by curiosity, nostalgia, and the promise of a good laugh.

The Yugo you travelled in almost behaved like a character of its own – as if it was determined not to let the trip go smoothly. There were some horror-movie sound effects, a gearbox that seemed to work only in reverse, a speedometer with a mind of its own... You'd driven Yugo before, so you knew what you were getting into, at least to some extent. But before setting off, did you expect the car to cause quite this many – and this kind of – problems?

Filip Grujić: Actually, as I mentioned in the film, I was never consciously in the Yugo before shooting the film; after the maternity hospital, they brought me into it, it brought me to the apartment, my parents had it from the time they met, until the moment they parted ways, and from then on, Yugo, like Yugoslavia, was just some kind of fiction for me. A space that we have only just conquered. Only through the preparation of the trip and later the trip itself, we started to get to know the car, to discern its sounds, emotions, hiccups and bouncing, to see when it is tired and when it needs rest, but also when it is in the mood to drive. Yugo was really a living organism, we got to know it and it got to know us. But I have to say, we adapted more to it and changed the travel route as it wanted (for example, if it breaks, we go north instead of south, because only there our diaspora knows how to fix it). So, we're happy that we had so many problems, because those problems are the backbone of the film, but also a reminder that it's not all about speed, there's something about staying somewhere longer than you planned.

Aleksa Borković: So, Yugo slowed us down, and a slow rhythm is something that suits my character. Precisely for the reasons that Filip mentioned – this is how friends are made, both with Yugo and with fellow travelers and with random and non-random passers-by.

Audiences are bound to love this film because it offers more genuine laugh-out-loud moments than many comedies. The absurd situations you keep finding yourselves in – and the way you deal with them – are full of effortless humor, irony, and ingenuity. You We could call such a sense of humor Balkan, but there's American Nick, and there are some funny statements like the one about Yugoslavs (Aren't they communists? Well, not really...) that fit perfectly and make comedy universal. How much humor is simply part of who you are, and how much did it help you deal with all the unexpected setbacks along the way?

Aleksa Borković: I think humor, in a world on fire, has probably become a defense mechanism. However, humor also opens space for self-irony, which I wholeheartedly accept. When the first screenings took place, especially those in our ground, I somehow felt relieved because people responded to that humor. They recognized themselves in the situations and opened to a narrative that is from a different perspective – those of us who have not lived through what many who watch the film have.

Filip Grujić: It would be disingenuous to tell this story without realizing that the situation itself is somewhat absurd. Seeing a Yugo on American roads, next to huge trucks and pick-ups, is already a funny sight. However, it was important to us that this film should not be a mockery of the car and the people who made it, that the Yugo should not only be a joke, but also have its own reasons why it was destined to be a joke in that society, in the then Reagan’s America. Let's also explain how the political situation of those years determined Yugo's path in advance. But we decided anyway not to be afraid to laugh, not to be afraid to be, both us and Yugo, occasionally awkward, not to be afraid to be honest about it. We also believe that the audience in Sarajevo will recognize the absurdity and laugh and enjoy the journey with us.

If you'd managed to film those "shapeshifters" in Arizona, we would have had a sci-fi element of the film. As it is, would you say you've made a road documentary in the truest sense of the term?

Aleksa Borković: Yes, you could say that we shot a road documentary, and all those bizarre things are an expected part of the trip. America is simply a big country; it is statistically impossible for the most diverse beliefs in the most diverse myths not to arise.

Filip Grujić: Baudrillard says that it is better to get to know America on the road than through sociological research. But the road is something that dazzles, that bewitches, that completely obscures life from the outside and cancels any possibility of reflection. So, this is a documentary of the road, but the voiceover gives it a more melancholic streak, which has had time to think things over - so this is a documentary of the road that has passed. And that is a completely different emotion.

The music is fantastic throughout the film. The deliberately off-key version of the American national anthem sounds uncannily like a funeral march for the Yugo itself. Who was responsible for putting together such an eclectic soundtrack, ranging from Dubrovački trubaduri and D'boys to Kralj Čačka?

Aleksa Borković: I think that Philip's eclectic taste contributed to opening to witty and brave choices. Kristina Todorović also did a great job here, who contributed to the musical image of the film with her great sense of rhythm, both in the film editing and in the music. When it comes to the composed music, Filip also made a good judgment regarding the selection of collaborators - Boško Mijušković, who fully recognized our energy and articulated it through a soundtrack that perfectly reflects our feeling on the road. One that is youthful, full of desire for something unpredictable.

Filip Grujić: It was important for us to create an interesting contrast between American landscapes and music from our regions. I remember once traveling through America with a godfather who has lived in Canada for over fifty years; we drove through California, and he played the tambourines from Vojvodina. That combination, that is, that mixture, of something that is there and something that remains there; that was important for us to show, because our American Yugo is also an emigrant.

You have achieved your goal. So... what comes next?

Aleksa Borković: Fortunately, that goal was not final, so we and Yugo will continue our journey. Each to his own side, and maybe our paths will cross again, who knows.

 

Filip Grujić: That question, however, kept coming back to me months after the shooting because I knew that something had passed that I would never be able to experience for the first time again. Neither shooting a movie, nor such an adventure. And I felt great emptiness because of that when I came back to reality. But luckily, as Aleksa says, some new goals have emerged. Some new things became important. Some new lives begin.