Engineer Predrag, who lost a leg in World War II, arrives to a mountain to oversee the construction of a hydroelectric dam. He goes to stay at a hut run by Ema, together with two other guests, the blind girl Buba, who lost her sight in the war, and doctor Žarko. Buba awaits an eye surgery by doctor Vrančić. Predrag uses a crutch to walk, but can also walk without it when using a prosthetic leg. Predrag hangs around with Buba, and the two fall in love, skiing on the mountain, but he hides from her his leg disability. Žarko's friend Lela also arrives to stay at the hut, causing Buba the urge to be more attractive for Predrag. After the surgery, Buba can finally see again, but Predrag decides to leave the hut without saying goodbye to her because he is ashamed of his missing leg. Buba meets him on the bridge at the dam, and they embrace.
Included in a poll of Croatian film critics as one of the 10 best Croatian films of the 20th century, "Only People" is a gentle and unashamedly old-fashioned film about a romance of two disabled people. As unusal as it may sound, the main protagonist of this film is: humanity. It consists out of small 'slice-of-life' episodes which build character development of Buba and Predrag, and through which the director Branko Bauer shows his sense for refined emotions, reminiscent of D. Sirk. In one representative sequence, Predrag, Vrančić and Žarko want to cheer up the blind Buba by letting her throw a snowball at a snowman. Buba is directed in a close up shot by Vrančić to throw a snowball as strong as she can, right in front of herself. She does, outside of the frame, and asks Vrančić if she hit the snowman. He says she did, but she knows she missed, and then makes a few steps closer, as the camera reveals the snowball hit Predrag's head. In another moment, Buba is celebrating her 23rd birthday, and says: "If I manage to blow out all the candles on the cake, the surgery will be a success". She blows all except one candle, which remains burning, but Predrag quickly extinguishes it with his finger before Buba can touch the candles with her hand to inspect if she achieved her intention. The dialogue is sometimes interesting, with Žarko saying at a meal: "Everyone lacks something in life. Some lack love, some money, some a goal in life." Predrag is even shown skiing with one leg on the mountain. While a lot of this is conventional and straight-forward, often close to being a melodrama, "Only People" is a very cozy and optimistic film, never turning too melodramatic, and its characters and their little gestures grow on you.
Grade:++
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