1991. The two friends Pavle and Aleksa, officers in the Yugoslavian People’s Army, are both in love with the same woman. When they later meet in the course of the civil war, Pavle is a refugee in Vukovar and Aleksa a military judge. The dramatic conditions in which the two meet culminate in the death of van Pavle’s 19-year-old daughter +!+ although it is not known which of the two is the biological father. In a new three-cornered relationship around the daughter of a deserter, the drama heads for a tragic conclusion.Deserter provides an interesting criticism of the war in the former Yugoslavia: the role of the deserter becomes more and more appealing as the film progresses. The film focuses on the absurdity of war; the love story is a metaphor for treachery in war. Zivojin Pavlovic shot his film on location in Belgrade and Vukovar, between January and March 1992.
