Freedom from Despair

Freedom from Despair

Freedom from Despair

Share

Freedom from Despair

"A young man's journey from despair, a nation's struggle for freedom."

2004

1h 35m

8.0(1 votes)

Documentary

Overview

True stories of the Croatian People's struggle to overcome oppression from communist Yugoslavia and the 1990's fight to save their war ravaged homeland.

Links & Resources

Website IMDbView

Social & External

The people behind it

Cast & crew

10 featured cast members

Starring

John Savage

John Savage

Narrator

Michael York

Michael York

Voice Over

Beata Pozniak

Beata Pozniak

Voice Over

Petar Cvirn

Kruno Brkusic

Stipe Brkusic

Kruno’s Father

Noelle Charles

Kruno's Mother

Danijel Pek

Friend 1

Jure Bušić

Friend 2

Terence Pratt

UDBA Officer

Vlado Brkusic

Italian Farmer

Creative team

Directed by: Brenda Brkusic Milinkovic
Written by: Brenda Brkusic Milinkovic
Produced by: Brenda Brkusic Milinkovic

Similar Movies

Ibuka, Justice

Ibuka, Justice

Valentine and Jean-Claude start a new life in Kigali with their newborn baby, Justice. Their country, already battered by racial propaganda and brutality, finally seems ready for peace and justice.

Solidarność: How Solidarity Changed Europe

Solidarność: How Solidarity Changed Europe

Gdańsk, Poland, September 1980. Lech Wałęsa and other Lenin shipyard workers found Solidarność (Solidarity), the first independent trade union behind the Iron Curtain. The long and hard battle to bring down communist dictatorship has begun.

Julian Assange: Silenced

Julian Assange: Silenced

In the spring of 2010, Julian Assange published classified documents that shed a harsh light on the war crimes committed by the United States in Afghanistan and Iraq.

War Photographer

War Photographer

Documentary about war photographer James Nachtwey, considered by many the greatest war photographer ever.

Larger than Life: Reign of the Boybands

Larger than Life: Reign of the Boybands

Highlights boy bands and their rise — and fall — to fame, from The Beatles to Jackson 5 to the Jonas Brothers and One Direction, as well as the K-pop group Seventeen.

Mama Rosa

Mama Rosa

Rosa is from Croatia and lives in Switzerland, with her husband who depends on her care. She takes care of everything. Her children have grown up and want to leave home. Rosa stays behind alone.

Murder of the Essex Boys: Blood and Betrayal

Murder of the Essex Boys: Blood and Betrayal

On 6th December 1995, Tony Tucker, Pat Tate and Craig Rolfe were notoriously murdered in a Range Rover on a quiet country lane in Essex but 26 years, two convictions and countless conspiracies later, questions remain unanswered. Why were they killed? Who wanted them dead? Were the men convicted really guilty?

The Boy of The Fish

The Boy of The Fish

"The Boy Of The Fish" follows Noon, a young boy living in a Syrian refugee camp, who finds solace and a sense of freedom in a whale-shaped doll he names "Bahr." Set against the challenging realities of camp life, Noon’s journey is both a story of resilience and a testament to the boundless imagination of childhood. Through vivid symbolism and a unique soundscape, the film explores themes of loss, hope, and the longing for freedom amidst confinement. Shot entirely on an iPhone due to restrictions in the conflict zone, the film combines raw authenticity with poetic depth to capture the emotional landscape of a young soul navigating adversity.

Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992

Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992

An in-depth look at the culture of Los Angeles in the ten years leading up to the 1992 uprising that erupted after the verdict of police officers cleared of beating Rodney King.

S&M: Sweat and Muscle - The Dominatrix Workout

S&M: Sweat and Muscle - The Dominatrix Workout

An hour-long workout with a BDSM theme on a NYC rooftop, taught by a variety of instructors.

Yugoslavia: How Ideology Moved Our Collective Body

Yugoslavia: How Ideology Moved Our Collective Body

A research-based essay film, but also a very personal perspective on the history of socialist Yugoslavia, its dramatic end, and its recent transformation into a few democratic nation states.

Sylvie Vartan, vous et moi

Sylvie Vartan, vous et moi

Sylvie Vartan has had an extraordinary life: a Bulgarian child forced into exile, who became the icon of a youth in the midst of revolution in France. After a career spanning 64 years, with nearly 50 albums recorded and 40 million records sold, she has decided to bow out. During her farewell tour, the singer chose to open up to Augustin Trapenard.

Dark Days

Dark Days

A cinematic portrait of the homeless population who live permanently in the underground tunnels of New York City.

When My Knife Strikes You

When My Knife Strikes You

Shot in various villages throughout Yugoslavia, this is a disturbing document of a time when people were stabbing each other with knives without any real reason. Murderers, people who witness these murders and the families of victims all talk about the senseless violence and the human condition.

Sylvie raconte Vartan

Sylvie raconte Vartan

Fifty years after her first recording in Nashville, Sylvie Vartan decided to record the album she sings on to mark this anniversary there. In one of the songs, she says: I have forged my own path, without turning back. Leaving my mistakes behind me. I ventured into unknown territory, avoiding pitfalls, and I came back. It is on this "road," both public and personal, starting from her native Bulgaria to Paris, passing through a thousand places around the world, traversing fashions and overcoming the trials of an extraordinary life, that this film sets out to illuminate the trajectory of a shy young girl who became an international icon and a resolutely free woman.

Jean Vanloo: King of Clubs

Jean Vanloo: King of Clubs

From Jimi Hendrix to Patrick Hernandez and even Madonna, everybody crossed the path of Jean Vanloo. Who is this mysterious character from Moeskroen in Belgium? From the 60’s to the 80’s, this documentary tells the story of this improbable music producer, creator of the unforgettable hit “Born to be Alive”.

Escape to Berlin

Escape to Berlin

The documentary film uncovers the story of Mašín brothers, which is of the greatest stories of the Cold War. A group of five young men decided to leave the then-communist Czechoslovakia with guns in hand to join the fighting in the then expected war between the West and the East. The year was 1953, and today, through the last witnesses, we follow the 30-day dramatic journey to West Berlin and the subsequent fateful events that happened to her loved ones at home.

Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks

Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks

Punk music icons, Lunachicks, reunite after 20 years in an unfiltered, hilarious, and electric documentary. Packed with rare archival footage, the film traces their rise from gritty NYC teens to feminist trailblazers of the 90s grunge era. Fans and newcomers alike will thrill as the band recounts old antics, rekindles bonds, and embarks on their long-awaited journey back to the stage.

The Long Road Through Balkan History

The Long Road Through Balkan History

Bosnian Croat writer Miljenko Jergović and Serbian writer Marko Vidojković replace one another by the steering wheel of Yugo, a symbol of their common past while driving on the Brotherhood and Unity Highway that stretched across five of six republics of Yugoslavia.

Parallel Lives

Parallel Lives

Born June 8, 1964, Frank Matter films four "twins", born the same day as him, but in other latitudes. Interweaving their life stories with rich archival material, the filmmaker links these Parallel Lives with elements from his own biography, to compose a fascinating fresco where intimate trajectories are part of the advent of the global village.

Recommended Movies

The Soviet Story

The Soviet Story

“The Soviet Story” is a story of an Allied power, which helped the Nazis to fight Jews and which slaughtered its own people on an industrial scale. Assisted by the West, this power triumphed on May 9th, 1945. Its crimes were made taboo, and the complete story of Europe’s most murderous regime has never been told. Until now...

My Mom Jayne

My Mom Jayne

Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.

Virunga

Virunga

Virunga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is Africa’s oldest national park, a UNESCO world heritage site, and a contested ground among insurgencies seeking to topple the government that see untold profits in the land. Among this ongoing power struggle, Virunga also happens to be the last natural habitat for the critically endangered mountain gorilla. The only thing standing in the way of the forces closing in around the gorillas: a handful of passionate park rangers and journalists fighting to secure the park’s borders and expose the corruption of its enemies. Filled with shocking footage, and anchored by the surprisingly deep and gentle characters of the gorillas themselves, Virunga is a galvanizing call to action around an ongoing political and environmental crisis in the Congo.

In the Realms of the Unreal

In the Realms of the Unreal

In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.

Looking for Richard

Looking for Richard

Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."

Directed by John Ford

Directed by John Ford

A documentary about the life and films of director John Ford.

They Shall Not Grow Old

They Shall Not Grow Old

A documentary about World War I with never-before-seen footage to commemorate the centennial of Armistice Day, and the end of the war.

42 Up

42 Up

Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.

Dawg Fight

Dawg Fight

In a crime-plagued neighborhood near Miami, brutal, bare-knuckled backyard fights give young men a chance to earn money -- and self-respect.

180° South

180° South

The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert

Long-lost footage from Elvis Presley's legendary Las Vegas residency in the 1970s woven together with rare 16mm footage from Elvis on Tour, and 8mm from the Graceland archive, plus recordings of Elvis telling "his side of the story" rediscovered during Baz Luhrmann's research for his 2022 film, Elvis.

Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound

Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound

The history of cinematic sound, told by legendary sound designers and visionary filmmakers.

Naqoyqatsi

Naqoyqatsi

A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.

Cover-Up

Cover-Up

He's devoted his career to uncovering stories the powerful want buried. From My Lai to Abu Ghraib, dig into the life's work of journalist Seymour Hersh.

Fuck

Fuck

A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.

Atlantis Rising

Atlantis Rising

James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici go on an adventure to find the lost city of Atlantis by using Greek philosopher Plato as a virtual treasure map.

Room 237

Room 237

A subjective documentary that explores various theories about hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick's classic film The Shining. Five very different points of view are illuminated through voice over, film clips, animation and dramatic reenactments.

Love, Antosha

Love, Antosha

From a prolific career in film and television, Anton Yelchin left an indelible legacy as an actor. Through his journals and other writings, his photography, the original music he wrote, and interviews with his family, friends, and colleagues, this film looks not just at Anton's impressive career, but at a broader portrait of the man.

Cameraperson

Cameraperson

As a visually radical memoir, CAMERAPERSON draws on the remarkable footage that filmmaker Kirsten Johnson has shot and reframes it in ways that illuminate moments and situations that have personally affected her. What emerges is an elegant meditation on the relationship between truth and the camera frame, as Johnson transforms scenes that have been presented on Festival screens as one kind of truth into another kind of story—one about personal journey, craft, and direct human connection.

Trainwreck: The Real Project X

Trainwreck: The Real Project X

A night of drunken chaos rocks a quiet Dutch town in this shocking documentary about a teen's birthday invite that accidentally went viral on Facebook.