THE FOURTH MAN
Serbia, 2007, 104 minutes, Colour.
Nikoa Kojo, Marija Karan.
Directed by Dejan Zecevic.
The Fourth Man is an effective thriller with political overtones, especially for the Balkans in the 1990s.
It is a film about amnesia, very much in the vein of Robert Ludlum conspiracy novels as well as the Bourne films with Matt Damon. However, the central character is not a dashing film star like Matt Damon. He is an ordinary man, an official of the state, a paid assassin.
The film opens with the central character in coma, having been shot. He is visited by his colonel. He is also visited by a seemingly sympathetic police officer. He believes the police officer rather than his colonel and, on release from hospital, tries to work out who he was and what had happened to him. This involves his dead wife and teenage son who were killed when he was wounded. He also discovers that he has a girlfriend, and had been unfaithful to his wife.
The drama of the film involves the policeman, guiding the assassin to wreak vengeance on corrupt businessmen, drug lords, politicians. Eventually, however, with the confrontation with the colonel and his killing him – and finding that he was not the manipulator, the focus falls back on the policeman who is clearing the way to become a power in Serbia. The film has several twists, especially in a video which shows the execution of Bosnian prisoners, a massacre that the central character had carried out on the orders of the colonel. The photographer was the policeman. There is a final confrontation – and a rather unhappy, if cynical ending.
While the film stands as a fine thriller of amnesia and self-discovery, it is also a comment on the political changes in Serbia during the 1990s and the examination of conscience that has to go on in the aftermath.
1.An entertaining thriller? Amnesia, assassins? A Serbian perspective?
2.Belgrade as a city, the wealthy sections, the ordinary suburbs? The wintry season? The score and the mood?
3.Audience familiarity with the Bourne films, The Bourne Identity? The contrast with a non-glamorous central character?
4.The screenplay and its ingenuity, the clues, the twists, the central character in a coma, loss of memory, flashes of memory? The colonel and his visit? The policeman and his visit? Which of them was telling the truth? The set-ups? The killing of the businessmen? The drug story? The encounter with Theodora, the increase of memories? The build-up to the confrontation? Remembering everything? The irony that there was no plot, that the colonel was wanting to save him, the policeman and his ambitions for power? Saving Theodora, the final fight, his killing himself? The cynical ending with the policeman in power?
5.The portrait of the central character: the opening, the blurred vision, his regaining his sight, hearing, wanting a cigarette? The nature of amnesia? His age, build, blank? The colonel, the information? The doctors’ warning about the information upsetting their patient? The role of the government and doing government work? The policeman, his explanation of the investigation and its being closed down? His going home, not having any memories, the indication that the killers were searching for something in the house? His being controlled, brainwashed? The bar, the whisky, having beer? Meeting Theodora, their clash? The truth about his relationship with her, going home with her, his betrayal of his wife? The photos of his wife and son, their deaths? The business chief, his history, taking over as driver, abducting him, confronting him, shooting him in the woods? The drug dealer and the policeman’s story about his daughter, the pig farmer, his henchmen, in the house, the cocaine, killing him? His being wounded and Theodora looking after him? His going into the headquarters, the colonel concerned, putting a tail on him, the chase and his evading him on the roads, in the Underground? The set-up with the politician, the talk, the politician’s son and his toy, the plastic bag over the head, his escape and killing the politician?
6.The colonel, the discussions, the role of the military, the headquarters, the computers? The central character finding the information on the computers? His pursuer? The finale, seeing the video, the war crimes, the motivation, the discussions about the war and madness with the colonel, the colonel getting the cigarettes and his being shot?
7.The policeman, always present, his story, plausibilities, audience sympathy for him, the revelation that this was a façade, the set-up, getting rid of all his enemies and rivals, photographing the massacre, the video and its destruction, his power?
8.Theodora, at the bar, the relationship with her? The friendly neighbour and her concern? Her role in helping Theodora escape?
9.The video, the massacre, audience surprise? The memories of his wife and son? The son’s addiction? The wife and her desperation, wanting to leave? Taking the gun, her death? Her son’s death? His shooting himself but not dying?
10.The confrontation with the policeman, the troops and the snipers, the window, pushing the policeman out, coming downstairs, Theodora’s escape, his shooting himself?
11.The pessimistic and cynical ending with the policeman in power?
12.A combination of thriller, conspiracy theories, the history of the Balkans in the 90s?
