When Father Was Away on Business

When Father Was Away on Business is set in Sarajevo during the years after Yugoslavia's break with Stalin, a period of political suspicion and repression. The story unfolds through the eyes of Malik, a six-year-old boy who lives with his parents, Meša and Senija, and his brother. Meša is rarely at home, and the family tells the children he is away on business, but he has in fact been sent to a labor camp after being denounced, and the household must endure years of hardship and poverty without him. Malik senses that something is being kept from him and begins sleepwalking, wandering at night while his mother struggles to hold the family together.

Emir Kusturica directed the film, his second feature following Buffet Titanic, from a screenplay by Abdulah Sidran and produced by Mirza Pašić. Miki Manojlović plays Meša and Mirjana Karanović plays Senija, with Moreno de Bartoli as Malik, Mustafa Nadarević, Mira Furlan and Predrag Laković in supporting roles. It runs 136 minutes.

The film has a solid reputation with audiences, holding a 7.7 rating on IMDb from over ten thousand votes and a 7.3 on TMDB, while critics' reviews give it a 7.2. Such figures indicate a well-regarded drama whose audience support rests on a fairly large number of viewers rather than a narrow group.