Montevideo, God Bless You! (2010)

Montevideo, God Bless You! (Serbian: Монтевидео, Бог те видео, Montevideo, Bog te video; internationally titled Montevideo, Taste of a Dream) is a 2010 Serbian film directed by Dragan Bjelogrlić about the events leading to the participation of the Yugoslavia national football team at the first FIFA World Cup in Montevideo, Uruguay in July 1930. The film gained considerable media attention throughout 2010 and achieved significant box office success in Serbia since its release on December 21, 2010. The entire project has been hugely successful regionally thus far. More than 520,000 people in Serbia saw the first film, which won numerous awards.

The story is loosely based on the novel Montevideo, Bog te video by the prominent Serbian sports journalist Vladimir Stanković. He drew inspiration to write a romanticized depiction of the late 1920s Serbia and the events that popularized the game of football in the country after having watched the American film The Game of Their Lives.

The film was awarded the 'Audience Choice Award' for Best Film in the main competition program at the 33rd Moscow International Film Festival. It was also Serbia's official submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards, but did not make the final shortlist.

Synopsis

Belgrade, Serbian and Yugoslav capital, circa 1930. The story follows eleven passionate, mostly anonymous but very talented soccer players and their journey from the cobblestone streets of impoverished Belgrade neighborhoods to the formation of the national team before the very first World Cup in faraway Uruguay. So far away that the country's capital, Montevideo, seems more a distant dream than a familiar reality. Named after the city where the inaugural World Cup was held, director Dragan Bjelogrlić's adaptation of journalist Vladimir Stanković's best-selling book centers on the relationship between the two top players: natural talent and poor boy Tirke (Miloš Biković) and playboy superstar Moša (Petar Strugar).

Actors