Banjički logor (S01E07)
Airdate: 2 February 1975
Written by: Dragan Marković & Siniša Pavić
Directed by: Aleksandar Đorđević
Running Time: 48 minutes
The sixth episode of Otpisani, Kanal, despite being a partial rehash of motives from the earlier Garaža, proved to be extremely effective and arguably the series' peak so far through its claustrophobic tension and ruthless pacing. The seventh episode, Banjički logor (“Banjica Camp”), attempts a similar feat by returning to the audacious rescue premise of the very first episode, Bolnica. However, this rehash is executed with significantly less success, resulting in an instalment that, while competently made and entertaining, feels notably conventional and historically sanitised compared to its predecessors.
The title refers to the very real Banjica Concentration Camp, established by the German occupation authorities in Belgrade in July 1941 and run jointly with the Serbian collaborationist administration until October 1944. Official records state that 23,697 individuals were detained there, with at least 3,489 executed. The camp’s ominous presence has loomed in the background of the series, most directly in the previous episode Izdajnik, where Tihi’s girlfriend Nina is brought to see her tortured stepfather within its walls. This episode finally places the camp itself at the narrative centre. The plot involves Tihi receiving orders to rescue two high-ranking prisoners from Banjica. To accomplish this, he, Prle, and Paja recruit three new young activists: Uroš (Mladen Nedeljković), Moma (Predrag Panić), and another youth named Moma (Fedor Popov). Their operation begins with securing a safe house for reconnaissance, where Tihi and Prle note a crucial five-minute window during the changing of the gate guard, when only a single soldier remains on duty.
The acquisition of equipment for the raid provides some of the episode’s more engaging sequences. In a cleverly staged scene, Paja returns to his former workplace to lead an ambush on a group of German soldiers enjoying a meal, forcing them to surrender their submachine guns. The following day, Paja, Prle, and Tihi infiltrate a bathhouse frequented by German military personnel to steal SS uniforms, demonstrating the series’ continued strength in depicting improvised, bold partisan tactics. Parallel to the main plot, the character development continues, particularly for Čibi, who grows increasingly restless over his exclusion from resistance actions by his protective older brother Tihi. A light-hearted moment sees Čibi and Prle run into their acquaintance Srba (Danilo Lazović) and his girlfriend, with Čibi’s cheeky commentary on her looks amusing Prle. Čibi is also shown developing a nascent romantic interest in his neighbour’s daughter, Milica (Zorica Mirković).
Srba’s subplot, however, takes a tragic and historically grounded turn. He works in a clockwork repair shop owned by a Volksdeutsche German, Hans Schmidt (played by Eugen Verber), who constantly gloats about the seemingly unstoppable advances of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front in the autumn of 1941. Srba defiantly expresses scepticism towards these German prospects and is subsequently reported to the Gestapo. In a powerful scene, he is interrogated by Major Krieger himself and, with even greater defiance, confirms his views, thereby sealing his fate. This narrative strand is surprisingly based on the real-life story of Aleksandar Ignjatović (1915–1941), a young clockmaker reported by his Volksdeutsche employer for publicly doubting German military success and later defiantly confessing the same to his interrogators before execution.
The climactic raid unfolds with precision. Dressed in stolen SS uniforms, Prle and Tihi incapacitate the Serbian collaborationist guard at the camp gates. Simultaneously, a group of prisoners in a cell—including Srba, now bearing signs of beating—overpower their guard and make a break for the open gate. When guards attempt to stop the fleeing prisoners, Srba heroically stays behind to cover their retreat with a stolen gun, sacrificing his life. The escapees reach the gate, where their retreat is covered by Uroš, Moma, and Paja, the latter being wounded in the shoulder. Paja is taken to Moma’s home, where Moma’s mother (Živka Matić) reluctantly hides them in the attic as the Special Police and gendarmes conduct house-to-house searches. In a semi-humorous twist that plays on series continuity, the gendarme ordered to search the attic is the same one overpowered by the militants during the hospital raid in the first episode; unwilling to risk another injury, he neglects to check and reports the attic clear.
Directorially, Banjički logor is a well-constructed episode that provides a solid combination of action and humour, culminating in this unexpected but fitting twist. One of the episode’s great ironies lies in the casting of Eugen Verber, a Serbian Jewish historian, writer, and translator, in the role of the Volksdeutsche German, Hans Schmidt.^Although Verber’s own family perished in the Holocaust, he specialised in playing German and Nazi roles throughout his acting career due to his excellent command of the language. He would later reappear in the sequel series Povratak otpisanih as Schroeder, a Gestapo officer subordinate to Krieger.
Despite its strengths, the episode is marred by a strangely disjointed ending featuring a chronologically disordered recap of its most notable moments. This gives the distinct impression of a “filler” segment, serving no narrative purpose other than to fulfil a running time quota.
More significantly, the episode’s historical authenticity leaves much to be desired. While there were two high-profile successful escapes from Banjica Camp, they occurred in 1943, not 1941. The real details were considered inconvenient for the Communist Yugoslav government at the time of the series’ airing. One escapee was Milka Minić, a Communist activist and wife of Miloš Minić, who was the Yugoslav Foreign Secretary during the 1970s. The other escape involved several high-ranking officers of the JVUO (Chetniks), the rival monarchist resistance movement that the Communists regarded as bitter enemies. The series’ version, a 1941 raid led by our protagonists, thus represents a significant fictionalisation that appropriates and simplifies complex history for a streamlined partisan narrative.
Banjički logor is a professionally executed but ultimately safe entry in the Otpisani series. It successfully delivers action and continues to develop its charismatic ensemble cast, yet it fails to recapture the raw innovation or dramatic heft of episodes like Kanal or Bolnica. Its retreat into a more conventional heroic rescue plot, coupled with a sanitised approach to inconvenient historical truths, renders it a competent but somewhat forgettable chapter. It functions adequately as a period action piece but falls short of the series’ demonstrated potential for gritty, morally complex wartime drama.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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