User reviews

A poignant story of teenage love and rebellion, Nikolai Volev's film pictures the corruption and moral decay in the late years of communist Bulgaria. "Margarit and Margarita" was banned immediately after it was screened by the authorities and released at the end of 1989 to large critical and box- office success. "Margarit and Margarita" constructs a bitter "fairy tale" that challenges political debates on the role of the individual in an oppressive society. Colored by references to local problems and processes, the film offers not only a genuine rendering of a collapsing regime but also a touching observation on the failure of human values and ideals.

This is still one of the best Bulgarian movies of all times. The brutal truth about the hidden face of the communism in Bulgaria is not very pretty to see but at least people know what really happened behind the "Moral" and "Great" communist "Reality".The actors are the elite of all the Bulgarian actors. Vasil Mihailov and Hristo Shopov show amazing talent and Irini Gambona is so true in this role that u can start crying with her and love and hate her because of what Margarita is doing.The amazing love and hate in the movie is showing the spirit of most of the Bulgarians. They are passionate people no matter if they love or hate. Their feelings are either black or white - Bulgarians don't like the Grey color.You can also see the best folklore dancers in Bulgaria and enjoy our authentic folklore which is really amazing in it's lively movements and rhythm. Don't miss that movie if you can find it translated.

It is one of the greatest Bulgarian movies I have ever seen.The movie was made right after the falling of the communist regime in Bulgaria(and in most of the other countries) and it shows all the reality of the life of all the people except , of course , the members of the Communist Party and the crimes , outrage and violence of the people who at that time had the power in their hands and were above the law.It is a story of a boy and girl who have the same name - Margarit and Margarita.At the time when they were at school they realize that they are different - they'd like to be free to do what they want which was impossible at that time , because of the communist regime.Margarit and Margarita just can't fit in ,so they have to leave school premature , because they have only problems there.And the real life starts for them.Gradually Margarit and Margarita start to fall in love for each other.But the more their love grows stronger the more they sense the harshness of the real life...

PS: I didn't expect Japanese (or anyone who know nothing about the communism or only have read about it in the books) to understand the message of the movie

Well, I can hardly add something more than this few Bulgarian guys have already written! It's kind of impossible for someone who have had only read about that time in Bulgaria(especially),or just "imagine" it somehow, to simply have even a clue about it. So,addressing precisely to this user "suddesu" (sorry if I type it wrong, but I'm kind'a angry now- 'cause of what you've wrote about the movie..)-man, why don't you just keep on watching all the Hollywood's s**t and all the "things" that you prefer to see and expect!?!? You really shouldn't post any of what you did! BELIEVE ME! "Bulgarian director Nikolai Volev made the last film to be shelved under Communist rule and the first one to be unachieved a couple of days before the demise of old regime. Margarit and Margarita went on to become one of all-time successes in Bulgaria, reaching 2.5 million admissions from a population of eight million." ""When the film was completed and shown to the authorities, it was immediately banned. A special screening was organized for 15 generals, and I had the feeling I was leaning close to a charge of high-treason." "Less than two years after, when the Berlin Wall had fallen, it was suddenly on show in a small town outside Sofia. The Chairman of the Committee of Cinematography felt where the wind was blowing and wanted to show his support of democracy and freedom." It took Volev two years to write the script and another two to raise the then US$500,000 budget for Kozijat Rog - a 17th-century story of a four-year-old girl who loses the will to speak when witnessing the rape and murder of her mother. Her father dresses her as a boy and trains her to kill, but she also wants love and tenderness.

"In my country, where 500 years of Turkish occupation was replaced by Germans and later Russians, it is very difficult to separate personal problems from the political reality. Compared to this story, Margarit and Margarita was a fairy tale," he concluded(Nikolai Volev)."

If you are looking for a senseless US garbage, you should probably skip this film. But if you want to see a true story, with actual people in it, don't miss this one. If you don't like, most probably you didn't understand it, so don't blame the filmmakers, but your stupidity. The story is so "believeable" that it actually hurts to see the two young persons that destroy their lives. The end of the movie is the only way out of the whole mess that life actually is. If the you find the movie too aggressive - hey, that's how things are in real life and real life is not the sugar tasted Hollywood s**t! Sorry, if your intelligence is too low to understand and appreciate this kind of story, but as I already said - that's real life! Like it or not, this s**t really happens in real life. Everything's pink and perfect only in the Hollywood productions, but most of them are not real cinema nor art.

In one sentence, this movie is a failure. Let me, though, focus on what this movie manages to do.

It depicts a realistic picture of the worst that communism has to offer. There is no important character that has been spared of the filmmakers' grotesque description. You are not really given a chance to believe in a happy ending. So, if there is any hope in this story, then you could look for it in the characters' inability to find peace in a society that has apparently long ago lost its own dreams. For this message to get to the viewers though, we have to thank those of the actors who perform adequately (Hristo Shopov according to me) and even well (Vassil Mihailov).

I would recommend this movie to people who want to learn a little more about life under a regime of limited personal freedom and sheer bureaucracy. It may also be liked by today's Bulgarian teenagers, who will be happy to see that their parents' generation didn't lack its own problems and rebels.