Vodovod (S01E10)
Airdate: 5 March 1978
Written by: Dragan Marković
Directed by: Aleksandar Đorđević
Running Time: 57 minutes
As the acclaimed Yugoslav television series Povratak otpisanih neared its conclusion, the narrative inevitably advanced towards the eve of Belgrade’s actual liberation in October 1944. This temporal shift precipitated a fundamental inversion in the protagonists’ missions. For the majority of both this series and its predecessor Otpisani, Prle, Tihi and their comrades were dedicated to acts of sabotage—blowing up infrastructure, disrupting communications, and generally hampering the German war effort. Now, with the Wehrmacht in retreat and preparing a scorched-earth departure, their objective flips: they must prevent the Germans from doing precisely what they themselves had excelled at. The destruction of Belgrade’s vital utilities would cripple the city for the incoming Partisan and Soviet forces, and thus the final act of the resistance becomes one of preservation. This narrative pattern defines a distinct trio of late-series episodes, beginning with the ninth instalment, Vodovod (“Waterworks”).
The episode opens in the palpable tension of October 1944. The Serbian collaborationist government has fled, and German forces are methodically preparing their evacuation. Into this milieu returns an old school friend of Prle’s, Lale Pufna (Mladen Nedeljković). The son of a wealthy merchant who has sat out the war, Lale is inquisitive and, suspecting Prle’s partisan leanings, professes a desire to join the cause. His offer is not merely himself but crucial intelligence: he has observed a German female officer in his neighbourhood stockpiling vast quantities of water in her apartment. Lale correctly deduces that this signals a plan to demolish the city’s waterworks plant, an act that would deprive the entire population—Germans included—of running water. This premise efficiently establishes the stakes, grounding the impending action in a plausibly observed detail that was a hallmark of the series’ more grounded episodes.
Before acting on this intelligence, however, Lale’s loyalty must be verified. In a scene that blends psychological tension with dark humour, Prle orchestrates a test. Visiting Lale, he indulges in glasses of Grand Marnier and Courvoisier—unimaginable luxuries in wartime Belgrade—and pointedly declares he does not work for the Partisans. He then chastises Lale for wanting to join the Communists, who would doubtless nationalise his family’s apartment and fortune. The reaction is volcanic: Lale assaults Prle in a burst of genuine, ideologically charged fury. The ensuing brawl forces Prle to use all his combat skill to subdue his friend, ultimately revealing the ruse. This sequence is vital for characterisation, serving a dual purpose. It proves Lale’s sincere commitment, born not of opportunism but of a belated patriotic fervour, and it reinforces Prle’s world-weary pragmatism, his understanding that the coming peace may be as complicated as the war.
The intelligence is sound. The target is the waterworks plant in the Bele Vode neighbourhood, guarded by a mixed detachment of SS and Wehrmacht soldiers. The resistance’s inside man is Uncle Marko (Božidar Savićević), a plant worker and a reassuring link to the past, having previously appeared in Kanal, arguably the finest episode of Otpisani. Marko provides details on the garrison and a cache of hidden weapons for the workers. The plan, typical of the group’s earlier precision, involves Marko cutting the power to an electrified fence to allow infiltration. However, in a tense escalation, the plan unravels when Marko and his colleagues are detained by the Germans as they set their explosives. The subsequent conversation between the SS commander Fuchs (Tanasije Uzunović) and the Wehrmacht officer Bauer (Heinz Neubacher) is a succinct study in ideological fanaticism versus weary militarism. Fuchs dismisses Bauer’s concerns about a waterless city succumbing to epidemic with cold brutality, ordering the captives shot. This scene underscores the Nazi’s nihilistic endgame, providing a clear moral contrast for the coming assault.
With no signal from Marko, Prle and Tihi must improvise. What follows is the episode’s centrepiece: a spectacular, sustained action sequence. They neutralise a sentry, allowing Cane Kurbla to don his uniform. Prle, Tihi, Mrki, Lale, and other partisans then infiltrate the complex. The raid is executed with the series’ trademark efficiency—a brief, violent firefight results in Fuchs being killed, Bauer captured, and the workers liberated. Lale, in his first and only combat, saves Prle’s life, cementing his transformation from bystander to hero. The plant is secured, and the tone momentarily swells with triumph. This elation is deliberately, brutally undercut in the final moments. As Lale cheerfully returns to Cane’s lorry to fetch celebratory food and drink, he is ambushed and killed by a single, escaping German officer, played by legendary stuntman Bata Kameni. The episode closes not on victory, but on Prle’s devastated contemplation of his friend, who had, in his words, “proven himself.” This poignant ending is a masterstroke, a grim reminder that even in the final hours of occupation, death remains arbitrary and personal.
Critically, Vodovod is a very strong episode, successfully balancing suspense, character moments, and a rousing action finale. Director Aleksandar Đorđević expertly captures the city’s shifting atmosphere. The distant artillery grows louder, and the sense of impending change permeates even the social scenes. A semi-humorous, brilliantly cynical commentary is provided by a singer and her friend Bela at one of the last gatherings for German officers, attended by Marija and the still-infatuated Major Krieger. They wryly note they may soon be entertaining Russians, a moment that perfectly encapsulates the precarious, transactional nature of survival in occupied Belgrade.
However, the episode is not without its derivative or problematic elements. The motif of Prle moving in wealthy, pre-war social circles—and his teasing warnings about communist confiscation—was already utilised effectively in the Otpisani episode Paja Bakšiš. Its repetition here, while functional, feels somewhat unoriginal, a retreat to familiar character territory. The continuity with the earlier series is bolstered by Savićević’s reprisal of Uncle Marko, a welcome nod for dedicated viewers. Yet continuity is simultaneously undermined by the recasting of Mladen Nedeljković, who previously played the young resistance activist Uroš in Otpisani’s Banjički logor. Here, as Lale, he delivers an excellent performance, sharing a compelling, fraternal chemistry with Boris Nikolić’s Prle. His character’s abrupt death is the episode’s emotional core, but the actor’s prior role creates a minor but noticeable dissonance for attentive audiences.
Finally, the subplot involving General von Friedrichs and Major Krieger borders on fan service. The frustrated general, finding the waterworks mining was ordered by Krieger’s Gestapo rather than his own command, takes Krieger to his own bathroom—a scene culminating in the bath-taking Anđela. While it adds another layer to the portrayal of German institutional dysfunction and provides a comeuppance for the increasingly pathetic Krieger, it feels somewhat contrived, a narrative indulgence separate from the main thrust of the plot.
In the end, Vodovod is a robust and emotionally resonant entry in the series’ final act. It successfully executes the challenging narrative pivot from sabotage to protection, delivering a taut, action-driven story while taking time for atmospheric depth and character development. Its flaws—a recycled motif and minor continuity hiccups—are outweighed by its strengths: a compelling new character in Lale, a brilliantly executed raid, and a devastatingly effective final beat that reminds viewers of the human cost woven into the fabric of liberation. It set a high standard for the two episodes that would complete the series’ journey to Belgrade’s freedom.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
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