Klopka

Plot

Intro

The film opens with Mladen Pavlović (Nebojša Glogovac), sporting bumps and bruises on his face, nervously smoking a cigarette while talking to unrevealed individual(s). Among other things, he says that he is trying to "do this one thing right, after a series of wrongs that never should have happened".

The movie occasionally returns to the scene of Mladen talking to the unseen individual(s) and discussing different details following key plot points or displaying inner torment over the unfolding story.

Story

Mladen is a young professional residing in Belgrade where he works as construction engineer in a decrepit state-owned company that's undergoing the process of privatization. He drives a beat-up Renault 4 and rents an apartment with his wife Marija (Nataša Ninković) who teaches English in a primary school. Together they're raising their only child—an 8-year-old boy named Nemanja (Marko Djurovic). Despite their limited means, they're still managing to make ends meet and provide for their son. They arrange and lead a fairly normal and happy family life—cheering Nemanja on at swim meets and taking him to the local playground where Mladen becomes acquainted with their blonde neighbour (Anica Dobra) who also brings her daughter to play there.

However, everything drastically changes one day when Nemanja is rushed to the hospital following a collapse at gym class in school. After undergoing emergency reanimation, he is diagnosed with a heart muscle condition that requires immediate surgery since the next inflammation that could come at any time might be fatal. They are further informed by Dr. Lukić (Bogdan Diklić), that the procedure is only performed at a clinic in Berlin, Germany, costs €26,000 and is not covered by domestic health insurance plans.

Faced with this shocking development and the knowledge that they have nowhere near the money that is required for the surgery, Mladen and Marija look into different ways of coming up with the funds. Mladen applies for a bank loan, but gets flatly rejected due to not owning property and being employed at a bankrupt company. Marija submits an ad in the paper, asking for charitable donations for their son's surgery. When informed about it, Mladen confronts her on the issue as he is vehemently opposed to what she did. However, suspecting misplaced ego might be the source of his ire, she simply states that it's not beneath her pride to ask for a handout in this situation. Although they quickly make up, it is obvious that the situation is starting to put a lot of strain on their marriage.

Soon, the family gets a call from a man who claims to be interested in helping Nemanja after seeing the ad, but is not willing to discuss the details over the phone so the meeting with Mladen is arranged the next day at a bar in Belgrade's Hotel Moskva. At the meeting, the dapper, well-spoken middle-aged man (played by Miki Manojlović) says he's willing to pay €30,000, explaining that that should cover Nemanja's surgery and three plane tickets to Germany. Furthermore, he says that all he wants in return is for Mladen to murder someone, seeing him as the perfect candidate to carry out the crime, because he does not have any prior record and because he is an honest, hard-working man whom no one will suspect. Counting on Mladen's dismayed initial reaction, the man tells him to think it over and says he'll contact him in two days.

Cast

Nebojša Glogovac ... Mladen Pavlović

Nataša Ninković ... Marija Pavlović

Marko Đurović ... Nemanja Pavlović

Miki Manojlović ... Kosta Antić

Anica Dobra ... Jelena Ivković

Bogdan Diklić ... Dr. Lukić

Vuk Kostić ... Petar's Brother

Vojin Ćetković ... Vlada, Mladen's friend from the university

Dejan Čukić ... Petar Ivković

Nebojša Ilić ... Smiling bank clerk

Boris Isaković ... Moma

Ivana Jovanović ... Moma's wife

Milorad Mandić ... Inspektor

Ana Marković ... Post office clerk

Mladen Nelević ... Radnik

Themes and motifs

Underneath its simple noir narrative, some of the movie's key points lie in spotlighting what the author sees to be the staples of post-Milošević Serbian society such as the huge gap between the rich and the poor, an entire nouveau riche class that managed to gain enormous wealth through shady means in the years since the collapse of communism, a middle class that is teetering on the edge of poverty, patriotism being used to cover up criminal activities, workers and clerks at the mercy of ruthless foreign-based businesses that negotiated their entry into the shattered Serbian economy from an overwhelming position of strength, etc.

When Mladen applies for a loan at a foreign-owned bank, he is flatly rejected and the news is broken to him by a smiling bank employee. When asked by an angry Mladen why he is so cheerful, the clerk suddenly turns embarrassed and informs him somewhat dejectedly that the bank penalises its employees if they're not smiling while providing financial services.

The mysterious man who offers the money for Nemanja's surgery, on condition that Mladen kill Petar Ivković, introduces himself as representing "those of us who love this country, who build and create" - a clear dig by the filmmakers at the usage of patriotism in Serbia in order to initiate and carry out criminal endeavours through state security echelons, shady businessmen, and common criminals.

In search of the money required for son's surgery, Mladen looks up an old colleague from university days who is now doing well financially. Before rejecting Mladen, the friend sings praises of the business he's currently involved with – designing kitschy suburban palaces for the nouveau riche despite not even being an architect.

After she puts an ad in the paper asking for donations towards Nemanja's surgery, Marija is faced with a petulant student who, after not heeding the teacher's request to put away her handheld during class, flippantly asks Marija in front of everybody to give her private English lessons. The young student's reasoning is that Marija "could use the money considering her home situation". Deeply shaken, Marija throws the student out of the class, but eventually swallows her pride and after Nemanja's third inflammation goes to the student's lavish home in order to give her private lessons in search of supplemental income or even hoping to get a loan from her rich parents, only to be shocked and sickened by the fact that the student's father owns a picture frame that costs €30,000. All of this leads to a long tirade when she comes home to Mladen that "her son's life is worth less than those people's picture frame".

Reception

2007 Berlinale

Despite being shown outside of the main program, Klopka garnered quite a buzz at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival, culminating in Hollywood Reporter including it in the list of 10 most important films of that year's festival. Variety's writer Deborah Young also wrote a positive piece.

Serbia

In its home country, Klopka's reviews were mixed. Popboks webmagazine calls it a movie whose great potential wasn't properly utilized. Its reviewer Miloš Cvetković praises the depiction of the father character's introspectiveness and emotional withdrawal following the murder, but criticizes the filmmaker's tendency to raise this family's personal drama into a general societal symbolic realm without first establishing them enough as specific people with specific individual identities. Because of that, Cvetković says, it feels like the point of no return is reached far too soon without properly exploring other options and as such feels like it wasn't the absolute last resort for the father.

The movie became the official Serbian entry for the Best Foreign Movie category at the 2008 Academy Awards. It made the shortlist of nine films, but failed to get into the final five.

Other festivals

Success at Berlinale opened the doors of various festivals across the globe. After showing at the 2008 Portland International Film Festival, the movie was reviewed by website Cinematical.

Critical response

Klopka has an approval rating of 60% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 5 reviews, and an average rating of 5.1/10.

Hollywood remake

Ever since its favourable showing at the 2007 Berlinale, as well as affirmative notices in The Hollywood Reporter and Variety that followed, the sale of Klopka rights to a Hollywood studio was mentioned by various press outlets. In April 2008, Hollywood production company Alcon Entertainment closely affiliated with Warner Bros. bought an option to remake the movie within 18 months of the purchase.

Finally, in early November 2008, it was announced that after buying the rights to Klopka, Alcon Entertainment gave a green light for the remake to be directed by Ericson Core based on an adapted screenplay yet to be written by Matthew Aldrich.

In September 2012 at the Toronto International Film Festival, it was announced that the film's rights had been purchased by the production company Emmett/Furla Films headed by Randall Emmett and George Furla. The movie was given the working title Fair Trade, with the producers reportedly offering the main role to Liam Neeson. The main plotline was also modified for the American audience. Warren is down on his luck and works as a limo driver, despite having a master's degree. When his son has a seizure and needs surgery, he learns that the insurance company will not cover it. With no money, a mysterious man approaches with a deal: he will pay for the child's surgery if the driver kills a mobster. Warren at first refuses, but reconsiders once he realizes his child's life depends on it.