In 1985, four middle-aged Yugoslav emigres return to Belgrade for the funeral of Mariana, their beautiful compatriot. They called her Esther, for Esther Williams, she was the coxswain for their four-man rowing team, and they each loved her. They'd last seen her in 1953, when they rowed her across the Adriatic, pregnant, to join her exiled father in Italy. In flashbacks we learn the story of their youthful baptism into sex, smoking, rock and roll (Hey Ba-ba-re-bop), Hollywood and Swedish films, blue jeans on the black market, and their rivalry with Ristic, the Communist Party youth leader for whom they had instant antipathy.
Direction
Flashback structure that weaponizes nostalgia against itself
Costume
Jeans as contraband, rockabilly as resistance
Score
Jazz anthem that becomes ironic Greek chorus
Director
Jovan Aćin
Gala Videnović
Ester
Nebojša Bakočević
Glen
Dragan Bjelogrlić
Saša
Srđan 'Žika' Todorović
Kića
Goran Radaković
Pop
Milan Štrljić
Rile
Relja Bašić
Glen (stariji)
Marko Todorović
Saša (stariji)
Miloš Žutić
Kića (stariji)
Dragomir 'Gidra' Bojanić
Rile (stariji)
Ljubiša Samardžić
Glenov otac
Ružica Sokić
Kićina majka
Danica Maksimović
Rada Švercerka
Tatjana Lukjanova
Liza, Sašina baka
Rade Marković
Dr. Svetislav Popović, Popov otac
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Hey Babu Riba captures Yugoslavia's unique 1950s position: non-aligned, Western-curious, Soviet-suspicious, creating a youth culture that idolized American jazz while officially rejecting capitalism.
The rowing team's four-man dynamic deliberately mirrors Yugoslavia's six republics—competitive, codependent, ultimately unable to survive the same woman's departure.
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