The title and much of the material comes from the “lost” melodrama “Innocence Unprotected” by acrobat-athlete Dragoljub Aleksić during WW2. The athlete plays himself, demonstrating his prowess and rescuing Nada, the lady of his heart. Makavejev has used scenes from the original film, interviews with Aleksić and others involved in the original film, and ingeniously mixed it with wartime images of the destruction and rebuilding of Belgrade. At the centre of it all is the real-life hero Aleksić.

This meta-documentary is one of Dušan Makavejev’s most creative films. He has brilliantly created something meaningful and cleverly retrospective about his country’s turbulent past from trivial source material.

The film won the Silver Bear at the 1968 Berlinale Film Festival and the FIPRESCI Award and the Golden Hugo Award at the Chicago Film Festival.

Kati Vuks