Montevideo, God Bless You!

Only four European teams travelled to the first World Cup, held in Uruguay in 1930. Yugoslavia was one of them. Dragan Bjelogrlic's film follows how that squad was assembled, who got on the boat, and how players out of Belgrade's street football became national symbols overnight. The screenplay, by Srdan Dragojevic and Ranko Bozic, is adapted from a book by Vladimir Stankovic. The film drew more than half a million admissions in Serbia and ranks among the country's biggest box office successes. A sequel followed in 2014. The tone is nostalgic and expansive: period design, romances and touchline heroism run side by side. It is less interested in explaining that generation than in monumentalising it. Who it's for: Viewers who enjoy sports and period drama together, and anyone curious about how a country narrates its own founding legend. Who it's not for: Too burnished and too long for anyone after historical accuracy. This is myth-making, and it does not pretend otherwise.