The Price of a Town

Movie from  1970, in duration of 85 minutes.
The movie is created in widescreen technique, with sound, in black and white and 35mm.

Vardar Film Skopje

Rapublic of Macedonia

war film

Feature film

A town in Macedonia is under German occupation. The end of the war is very near. In these last days of occupation the inhabitants of the town release some Russian and Italian soldiers. The German commanding officer demands that the citizens deliver the liberated prisoners, blackmailing them by mining the town. But the love, which the commanding officer feels towards the high-school student named Elena, is an obstacle to his executing this crime. He demands the girl be a ransom for the town. Elena's father, who is a priest in the town, sacrificing both his daughter and himself, marries the German officer and his daughter. The partisans enter the town and they kill the - just married - couple exactly at the moment when for the first time on Elena's face one can notice that the German officer becomes her favorite.

Essay text:
Two years after "The Republic in the Flames" had been released, Ljubisha Georgievski was engaged to direct "The Price of a Town" based on Simon Drakul's screenplay. It treats its subject with no conformity in approach. The screenplay treats an event from the end of the war, keeping the epic base of the theme as its primary structure. The film consists of sequences, related by their emotional intensity, which owe their expressions to the same mythical source. The story of the beautiful Helen, on which the screenplay was based, the myth about cursed beauty, and many other myths, are skillfully placed in the dimension of a new possible experience of their primordial existence. The choice of Ohrid as their location reinforces the conviction of this dramatic base. It all begins when the local population helps two lorries of prisoners of war to get free and join the partisans. For revenge the German captain, commanding officer of the town, orders the citizens to deliver the prisoners or he will destroy the town with mines. The order is beyond the citizens' power and understanding but they are connected with to their town with a strong mythical chain, which tightens around their necks. It is obvious that the captain himself is convinced of the absurdity of the order. Making use of the ominous situation he challenges the mythical forces buried there. Because of this the mechanism of the mythical performance becomes a severe judge having a group of hostages tied in a net and drowned in the lake as the first victims, not saving even the beautiful Helen, nor the commanding officer. The performances are rather homogeneous in respect of the expression, as well as their relationship to the characters. The cast included some Romanian names like Jurie Darie and Silvia Badesku; among the homespun ones were Dragomir Felba, Aco Stefanovski, Petar Stojanovski-Babec, Darko Damevski, Kiril Cortoshev, Nada Geshovska, Ljubisha Trajkovski, Aco Jovanovski, Vukan Dinevski etc. Branko Mihailovski's photography is just another visual tractate accompanying the thematic values of the screenplay and mediating the mythical beauty of the space with the strictness of icon painting. Yet, the highest level of stylization was achieved in Nikola Lazarevski’s art direction. The music composed by Kiril Makedonski is dominated by the ballad mood, thus contributing to the somewhat neglected poetic motive of the theme.

Director: Georgievski Ljubisha
Screenplay: Drakul Simon
Director of Photography: Mihajlovski Branko
Editor: Chemchev Vangel - Laki
Leading Roles: Badescu Silvia , Darie Jurie , Felba Dragomir , Jovanovski Aco , Kostovski Dragi , Stefanovski Aco , Stojkovski Petar - Babec
Supporting Roles: Cortoshev Kiril , Damevski Darko , Dinevski Vukan , Dishljenkovic Predrag , Geshovska Nada , Isaja Jovan - Jon , Isaja Mara , Josifovski Josif , Stefanovski Dimche , Trajkovski Ljubisha
Music: Makedonski Kiril
Art Director: Lazarevski Nikola
Sound: Pakovski Gligor
Sound Editor: Pakovski Gligor
Second Ass. Director: Cenevski Kiril
Ass. Editor: Lukova Donchic Olga
Unit Manager: Kalic Miki
Production Manager: Angelovski Blagoja

Other actors:

Spase Stojanovski
Vaska Boshkova


Add. credits:

dresser -- Ljubica Plejic
location manager -- Risto Teofilovski
script-girl -- Lidija Debarlieva
make up -- Marija Jovanovic
assistant art director -- Miladin Arandjelovic
assistant production manager -- Blagoja Kondratjuk
cameramen -- Mile Ivanovski; Risto Buklevski
music performed by -- "BIS BES"
singing voice -- Dime Popovski