Velimir Bamberg lives a very lonely life. The only contact he has with the outside world is through the choral society to which he belongs. Bamberg has a sister who is ill. He would like to send her to the seaside, but he can’t afford it, and he doesn’t want to do anything illegal. He refuses some dubious business offered to him by his friend, Lale, and tries to get the money elsewhere. Trying to improve his situation, he will become involved in a series of tragicomic situation end up by falling in love with a young woman. With her at his side, he feels he is ready to change this absurd life of his, and sets out to realize his plan with some money borrowed from a friend. However, he will soon discover that it is not always so simple to change one’s lot in life… –Thessaloniki Film Festival
Yugoslav writer and film director Živojin Pavlovic was born in Sabac, Serbia, in 1933. He studied painting at the Belgrade Academy of Applied Arts. In the early sixties, he began his filmmaking career by directing two mid-length features. In 1965, he adapted Dostoyesky’s short novel “The Double” into a feature entitled The Enemy, and in 1966, he made The Return. His next two films, The Rat’s Awakening (1967) and When I’m Dead and White (1968) drew attention both within Yugoslavia and abroad. In 1969, The Ambush was deemed ideologically controversial, and though it was not banned, it never received an export visa. In 1970, he made Red Grain Stalks and began teaching filmmaking at Belgrade’s Film School. Meanwhile, Pavlovic had also become an established novelist. However, his fame did not prevent him from being banned from teaching, his films accused of having “a pernicious effect on youth”, his teaching methods of being “negative and pessimistic”. After three years of silence, he was… read more
I would much rather translate the title of this film as "Awakening of the Rats". It's more literal with regards to the original title and also sounds more proper in English.
