Life Is a Miracle

2004

2h 34m

Comedy

Drama

War

List

60%

Tomatometer

5 Reviews

90%

Audience Score

5,000+ Ratings

Engineer Luka (Slavko Stimac) is building a scenic rail line linking a small Bosnian town to Serbia. He loves his high-strung wife, Jadranka (Vesna Trivalic), and is proud of his son, Milos (Vuk Kostic), an aspiring soccer star. But chaos strikes when his wife runs off with a cymbal player, the Balkan conflict breaks out and Milos becomes a soldier and then a POW. A plan by officials to free Milos by trading him for a captive Muslim woman is complicated when Luka and the captive fall in love.

Read More

Read Less

Empire Magazine

Rated: 2/5

Apr 1, 2006

Full Review

Enrique Buchichio

Uruguay Total

Kusturica se repite a s mismo y entrega una alocada comedia sobre el amor, la locura y la guerra.

Rated: 3/5

May 23, 2006

Full Review

Anton Bitel

Movie Gazette

Rated: 6/10

Mar 5, 2005

Full Review

Rich Cline

Shadows on the Wall

A superb story is drowned out by Kusturica's zany and chaotic style

Rated: 3/5

Feb 7, 2005

Full Review

Boyd van Hoeij

european-films.net

Kusturica's warm characters inhabit a world that is both absurd and at the same time strangely akin to our own.

Jul 30, 2004

Full Review

Read all reviews

Audience Member

I love Kusturica's chaotic style, the madcap physical comedy (a lot of it here provided by a middle-aged woman, which is fun in itself). The way that people knock things over, fall down a lot without care, and are casually, harmlessly violent with one another is very entertaining. The lengthy runtimes don't do it any favours, though; by the end you can end up just exhausted and ready to leave all the zaniness behind, instead of desiring more. And the plot is a little trite and predictable. But I liked it.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Kusturica can make from something as terrible as the war in the Balcanes a tender story about dreams, love, people's habits with some comedy too. Some moments the film are some kind surrealistic. Special mention for the mule "Milica" that is protagonist of some peak moments of the film.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Beauty and Madness in the Balkans... Miracle Of The Belles--Developed characters, delicate metaphors, beautiful imagery... One of those rare movies that left you breathless!!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Le début est un peu folklobordelique, mais ensuite ça devient un beau film

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/12/23

Full Review

Audience Member

a rollercoaster of emotions, he makes you cry when you are laughing and laugh when you're crying

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Humorous, romantic, sad and sometimes absolutely crazy situations, all combined perfectly in order to picture the chaos, the absurd world in which the lovable characters of the film try to make a living. The film also offers a great opportunity to make some research about the Bosnian war (1992-1995), one of the four wars that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Emir Kusturica

Director

Slavko Stimac

Luka

Natasa Solak

Sabaha

Vesna Trivalic

Jadranka

Vuk Kostic

Milos

Aleksandar Bercek

Veljo

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

87%

89%

The Cuckoo

20%

84%

The Tiger and the Snow

29%

63%

Jakob the Liar

89%

88%

Inglourious Basterds

TRAILER

for Inglourious Basterds

94%

77%

Three Kings

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Synopsis

Engineer Luka (Slavko Stimac) is building a scenic rail line linking a small Bosnian town to Serbia. He loves his high-strung wife, Jadranka (Vesna Trivalic), and is proud of his son, Milos (Vuk Kostic), an aspiring soccer star. But chaos strikes when his wife runs off with a cymbal player, the Balkan conflict breaks out and Milos becomes a soldier and then a POW. A plan by officials to free Milos by trading him for a captive Muslim woman is complicated when Luka and the captive fall in love.

Director: Emir Kusturica
Producer: Christine Gozlan, Pierre Edelman
Screenwriter: Ranko Bozic, Emir Kusturica
Genre: Comedy, Drama, War
Original Language: Serbian
Runtime: 2h 34m