Tito and Me

Set in socialist Yugoslavia during the 1950s, the film follows Zoran Dimitrije Vojnov Mihajlovic, a portly 10-year-old who shares a crowded Belgrade apartment with his artists’ parents, his aunt, uncle, and grandmother. His mother and father are artists—his father a pianist and his mother a ballerina—yet their creative world clashes with the stricter routines of the extended household, making Zoran’s everyday life feel cramped and tense.

In this era when land reform and state control reshape homes and loyalties, Zoran’s parents remain skeptical of Josip Broz Tito’s rule, even as the boy worships Tito as his personal hero. School lessons fortify that devotion, presenting Tito as the greatest man who ever lived, and Zoran clings to that belief with a child’s unwavering faith. When his poem, Why I Like the President, is judged the best in a Belgrade school contest, he earns a coveted camping trip for politically favored families, along with his crush, Jasna Milena Vukosav, an older orphan girl.

The camping trip is led by Raja Lazar Ristovski, a ruthless party member whose control and mockery sharpen a fierce rivalry with Zoran. While the other kids tease him for his weight and appearance, Zoran remains determined, dreaming not only of meeting Tito but also of gaining Jasna’s affection. The tension between him and Raja grows when Zoran witnesses the tall boy Kengur Milutin Dapčević kissing Jasna, which intensifies his insecurity and jealousy. As the days unfold, the group’s play takes a dark, absurd turn: Raja and Kengur stage themselves as ghosts, terrifying the younger campers as they spend the night at a historic castle.

Things come to a head when Raja catches Zoran trying to steal a ring he intended to give Jasna. The disciplinary moment seems decisive as Raja orders Zoran to head home by train. Yet, on the platform, a surprising solidarity forms: other students gather around, and they rally to support him, deciding that Zoran should continue the trip. The journey culminates at Tito’s childhood home, where Zoran is asked to deliver a speech. In a quiet, defining moment, he revises his own poem on stage, confessing that he loves his parents more than Tito and, in a frank line, admitting that he doesn’t even like Tito that much.

The narrative resolves at a banquet where all the children are meant to meet Tito, but Zoran emerges disenchanted. While the others crowd into the reception room, he slips away to the buffet, savoring a simple, personal moment of pleasure amid the propagandistic surroundings.

Through these incidents, the film paints a portrait of a boy negotiating fantasy and reality, ideology and affection, in a world where art, family, and state power intersect in complicated, often comic, ways. The surrounding family members—Zoran’s mother Anica Dobra, his father Miki Manojlović, and his relatives such as Zoka Ljiljana Dragutinović, his grandmother Olivera Marković, and his grandfather Rade Marković—offer a tapestry of generational voices that illustrate the era’s contradictions. Tito’s circle is glimpsed through brief, telling moments, including Tito’s adjutant Miodrag Tomović, as the film quietly questions how iconography shapes everyday life for ordinary people.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 09:20