If you ask an average parent, "Do you believe in Santa Claus?"
His answer would have been, "Of course not, I'm not crazy."
I just pretend for the sake of my children.
Now, when you ask the children,
"Do you really believe in Santa Claus?"
A normal child would have answered,
"I'm not crazy. I know my parents are really buying the presents.
But I pretend to believe
not to disappoint my parents and to get the presents."
And so on, and so on.
So, you see the paradox here.
No one, effectively, believes in the first person.
Everyone claims, "I just pretend for another."
But, nonetheless, the belief functions.
It structures our social reality.
America the land of liberty
For the right to live fearless and free
- Left. No. - This one?
No, no, no.
-No? Come on. -That left one.
Left.
-This one? -No!
-It's really pretty. -No.
-No, please. -Okay!
-Which one you want, this one? -Give me...
Yes!
But, you know, you really look very old in it.
Thank you very much.
Welcome.
Everything's going to hell.
I mean, NASA's changed.
I mean, it's not the way it used to be as I remember it.
Now, the Russians are putting people into space. Not us.
We don't even know how to do it anymore.
When Ivan and I worked there, we put a man on the moon.
Now, the most exciting thing that happens is
some guy jumps out of a balloon,
drinking Red Bull. Come on!
Do you think that's worth anything? That's worth nothing.
Of course it's changed!
It can get really cold in Eastern Europe, you know.
You need any help on that?
No, we're all right.
I have no idea where he gets some of these housemaids.
- He has good taste though. - He certainly does.
You guys gonna go all the way with him?
Yup. But the film crew, we're going...
But they're going to be more people in Zagreb waiting for him. So.
Well, I also mean, you know what you're getting into?
- We think so. - Yeah.
What happened to you?
Some guy contacted me from the USA,
claiming to be my father.
Ivan Pavić.
You know, I've been living my whole life
without a father.
Thinking he was dead.
I mean...
I was there at his grave with his mother.
This will be a very interesting journey for you.
Very interesting.
I haven't been there in 50 years.
Is Nataša coming to Pag Island?
Yes, we'll meet on the island of Pag.
Great.
-She's coming to Pag. -I'm looking forward to that.
It's been arranged with her for sure, right?
Yes, it's been arranged.
Excellent.
A lot of documents from the 1960s are only now being declassified.
So, after 50 years,
we're finally starting to get a clearer picture
of what really happened in the 1960s.
This is it.
Just take this.
Pretty hard to balance.
-No glass inside? -No.
Just watch your leg there.
Oops.
Here it is.
This is it.
This is what we're looking for.
And there he is.
That's Herman Potočnik Noordung.
A Slovenian scientist.
In 1929, he's writing a second book about space travel.
Really, really radical, revolutionary ideas and very specific.
But unfortunately he dies while he's writing his second book.
And everything he'd been working on is lost.
So, when the Second World War is ending,
Yugoslav Intelligence reveals
the existence and location of these documents.
They notify the head of the Yugoslav Communist Party,
Josip Broz Tito.
And they brief him about their potential importance.
Tito demands that the papers be examined by experts
and they conclude that
they consist of very detailed instructions about
how to build a spacecraft that could possibly take a crew to the moon.
Tito realizes that the papers could be
a significant advantage for his new country-in-the-making.
Which is about to be sandwiched between the Eastern and Western Blocs.
So, Tito issues an order to start the Yugoslav space program.
I became part of an engineering team
that developed a module for a human crew
for the Yugoslav space program.
We saw that the Yugoslavs spent a lot of time
looking for a dedicated location for testing.
To test space technology.
In the meantime, Yugoslavia was building this gigantic underground air force base.
Object 505.
So, it seemed like a perfect fit.
I was assigned to a team of security officers
for counterintelligence and protecting the program.
We had to clear out a few villages,
so that farmers wouldn't work in the area
and that tourists or foreigners wouldn't have access to it.
Let's go.
I'll show you when we're in the tunnel.
In the first 50 meters...
The police are coming.
It's okay, this is standard procedure.
As usual.
You're from here?
Yes. I was asked by the film crew to guide them
through the underground object.
I know the area here pretty well.
What's this?
You are...
He's from the U.S.
An American?
And what's that camera for?
We're shooting something.
But... It's not shooting at the moment.
Officer Mile, check these.
And what's the American doing here?
He is...
He's asking, "What do you do?"
-Will you translate? -Yeah, okay.
Do you speak English?
-Little, yes. -A little?
I'm a historian, and interested in the history of this place.
What did he say?
He's a historian, interested in the history of this place
as a part of the story of Yugoslav space program...
Okay, okay.
We were fully equipped for test launches
but the complex itself was not yet fully functional.
-Was it still under construction? -Yes.
In October, 1957, the space age pretty much begins.
That's when the Russians launch a multistage rocket
that's carrying the first artificial satellite, that's Sputnik 1.
Well, I know that prediction that the day will come when
perhaps our major battles will be space battles instead of air battles.
People of the United States have been humiliated.
They're disturbed and they're unhappy.
Not just our pride but our security is at stake.
The country is in dire trouble.
We must conclude that ten years from now
Russia will be way ahead of us.
A couple months after the Yugoslav space program commenced
Tito came to Object 505 on a surprise visit.
Those kind of visits were documented
by our counterintelligence teams for internal use.
The discovery and conquest
of other planets and space
depends on the mutual efforts
of Earthlings to explore what kind of neighbors they have.
Tito insisted on speeding things up
and the engineers promised him
that our spacecraft would be better
than the Soviets' Sputnik.
-Down there was a... -Yeah.
-...big launch pad. -Uh-huh.
It was three-stage rocket with a small module...
-Right. -...incorporated.
And we put a pig in the module.
-A pig? -Yes, a pig.
The rocket we actually built
was "Triglav 1," a three-stage rocket.
It used the ideas and solutions of Herman Potočnik Noordung.
Radar, take control. We're losing visual contact.
This three-stage rocket actually made it
to the stratosphere.
We were not able to secure the landing of the module.
It landed in international waters of the Adriatic Sea
close to Italian territorial waters.
Our ship barely avoided an Italian military vessel.
They obviously noticed our presence,
but we had to risk it.
The Italians could only guess
why we were there.
The piglet survived the flight.
Hello? Hello? Hi, Nataša. It's me.
It's me, Ivan.
Everything's fine, we landed, we're in Croatia right now.
We'll meet soon on the island of Pag.
Stay well, bye!
Mr. Tito, would you like to take this opportunity
when you are appearing before the people of America
to give them any special message?
Yes, I will take this opportunity
to send my greetings to America's people.
And plenty best wishes.
Also an all... This America, Americas, who
have sympathy for a...
for our...
No, no, no...
Aspires, aspirations
to creating, to create
our happy, new, strong Yugoslavia.
Let's go to the left!
This way, all right.
It was somewhere around here, I don't remember where exactly.
I think it's this building.
Yes, it was smaller than the other ones.
-Okay. -Let's go back.
Wait, my foot is stuck.
-Which one? -The right one.
Can you give me a push?
Wait, my foot.
-Can you get it out? -No.
-Are you okay? -Yeah, I'm okay. I'm all right.
Ivan was explaining that the Yugoslavs really had to improvise a lot.
They didn't have the resources that the Americans or the Soviets had.
So, they basically set up this tank for future Yugoslav astronauts.
It's basically kind of a cheap way to simulate weightlessness,
just by floating in water.
So, future Yugoslav astronauts would be in this tank
submerged in water and just be given tasks to do.
But the challenge was to do them while floating.
They gotta get used to the idea of being weightless.
You're at 40 meters, report actual depth.
After the successful launch
of a three-stage rocket, we started planning a bigger one.
But we lacked the resources.
The program's development was too slow
and was way too expensive.
That was very devastating for us,
although deep inside we expected it.
Yugoslavia would have to take out loans.
But creditors always wanted detailed information
about how the money was going to be spent.
Telling the international financial community
that we needed money for a space program
was simply out of the question.
Tito was a man of big appetites.
He was a man of big ideas as well.
So you can kind of see why it would be a failure
if they quit and they gave up their space program.
That would mean political consequences, potentially for Tito.
There were studies done by financial experts.
They concluded that Yugoslavia would go bankrupt.
The U.S. had the opposite problem.
They had the money
but the technology that they were using just wasn't working.
You have the failure of the Pioneer 0 lunar probe.
The Vanguard rockets had failed.
And around this time, Kennedy takes office
and he's under enormous pressure to get something done.
And he has to consider every possible option available to him.
Since early, our records in space have been under review.
With the advice of the Vice President,
who is Chairman of the National Space Council
we have examined where we are strong and where we are not,
where we may succeed and where we may not.
Here we see underground aircraft and rocket dispersal
at Object 505.
And, of course, the first identification,
cage photography, of above atmosphere rocket launch.
The CIA had advised Kennedy that the Yugoslav space program
could potentially be quite beneficial and complimentary to the American one.
And Kennedy sent a very experienced diplomat, W.A. Harriman,
to Belgrade to test the waters there.
Mrs. Harriman and I are very glad to be back in Belgrade
with President Tito.
So that I will look forward very keenly to having the privilege of seeing him again
and discussing matters of mutual interest.
Major Hafner ordered me to modify the report
on the actual state of the project.
Development was going well, but the program was not yet functional.
Is it true
that reports on the actual state of Yugoslav space program
were intentionally fabricated and manipulated to show
it in a better light? Is it true that you ordered it?
No.
Reports on the Yugoslav space program
were always real and objective.
Maybe sometimes scientists exaggerated.
Reports were not manipulated or fabricated on purpose.
We wouldn't mislead a potential buyer.
I had to fabricate some diagrams
and manipulate the results of the test launchings.
I do concede that some of the technical details
were portrayed in a multifaceted way.
We were expecting NASA representatives to come to Yugoslavia.
And they came.
Mr. Scott, welcome to Slovenia.
-Yes. -What are you looking forward to?
Well, we're looking forward first to
our exchanges with the scientists in Slovenia.
Because we know they will be at a very high level of understanding.
And we are anticipating some
very interesting and meaningful questions from them.
And, of course,
based on what we have seen in Yugoslavia so far,
we are also looking forward to the hospitality of the people
and the fine time, which I've heard, we will certainly have.
The NASA delegation
was impressed by our space program.
Basically, the assessment of officials was that it was a very advanced program.
And that the technology was also advanced.
We secretly believed that Americans believe in us.
This is always how myths function.
You say, "I know it's not true,
but I know that others believe that this is true about me."
It's part of American naivety
that they tend to believe into the secrets of the others.
Tito decided to offer the program to Americans
for a fixed amount of money.
This is the Embassy of Slovenia,
but this is the site of the former Embassy of Yugoslavia.
Come on in.
This is it.
This is the conference room. This is where everything happened.
- The scene of the crime. - Crime scene.
Right.
Back then, of course,
you have to imagine there was a huge conference table here.
Dozens of chairs.
Papers everywhere.
American and Yugoslav officials are here negotiating.
Obviously a lot of security. It's all top secret.
The Americans tried negotiating us down,
as is common in capitalism,
but we firmly stuck to our offer.
We demanded 3 billion USD for our program.
They came to an agreement.
$2.5 billion for the Yugoslav space program.
It was about three times
NASA's annual budget.
But the public didn't know
why Tito was supposed to get that money.
It was to be labeled "development aid" from the U.S. for Yugoslavia.
If you look at it in today's terms, basically the price they agreed to
was somewhere around $50 billion.
This is the island of Pag.
I was born here,
I got married here, and now I'm back.
Tomorrow you'll see your daughter
for the first time ever, won't you?
Yes, for the first time ever.
I don't even have any picture of her, I don't know what she looks like.
However, I have a good feeling about our meeting.
-This is my daughter. -Hello.
Hi.
This is Grega.
I'm Martina, nice to meet you.
Ivan, is everything okay?
Everything is fine.
No problem.
This is my daughter Ana, she has a PhD.
From 1983 on, she worked for the Yugoslav
and after that, for the Slovenian security agency.
We're kind of like a family security company.
That's how it is.
Tito was a true operative.
He could sell you anything without you knowing what you were buying.
Everything from the institute
had to be given to the Americans:
documentation, designs, equipment... everything.
And Yugoslavia then has a bit of a logistical problem.
How are they going to get thousands of pieces of equipment
to the United States without anyone noticing?
-Welcome, please, after you. -Wow. Thank you.
We accepted a plan to transfer everything
to the U.S. via a neutral country.
We chose Morocco.
Now, why Morocco?
It's a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and it also has
a very large American military base there.
So, they arrange for Tito to visit Morocco
as part of what's called the Path of Peace
aboard this ship, the Galeb.
It's joined by other ships as well, including a transport ship
carrying the entire Yugoslav space program.
The Galeb is Tito's kind of flagship. It's used for diplomatic purposes.
And he uses it to travel around the world.
Tito's diplomatic fleet
was the best possible cover for us
to smoothly cross the Mediterranean sea.
We were out of bounds for the Italians or French
who regularly stopped and searched vessels.
The sea was calm and we didn't have any problems.
At one point, Tito visited another ship in the fleet.
He was transferred there via a pulley.
Probably his wife Jovanka was being annoying or cranky
and he wanted to escape for a while.
Sometimes she was cranky, especially with us,
the secret service officers.
This is Tito's bedroom.
Look at that!
That's literally the last color, I expected to see in Tito's bed.
Hot pink.
- It's nice. - It's nice, right?
Nice firm mattress.
- Roger, don't break. - Roger.
Wait.
-What? It's okay? -It's okay. It's okay.
-Nice. -It's all right.
It's a wonderful idea of the myth that it was Casablanca.
'Cause Casablanca is kind of a background where others do their dirty jobs.
Remember in the film Casablanca,
there are almost no Moroccans. They're just background figures.
We can go together for a while
but then I will continue by myself.
Where are you going?
I'm fulfilling my father's wish.
What is it?
-I'm asking a lot of questions. -I'm going for a short visit.
Is it a friend of your father's?
No. But he was father's intelligence operative associate.
I'll call you.
Give us a call when you're finished.
Agreed?
Okay, bye.
Tito stayed in Morocco for two days.
In the meantime all the containers had to be unloaded
from our cargo ships. Not in Casablanca,
but a few kilometers away at an American military base.
Americans secretly transferred the cargo to their ships
and then shipped it on to the U.S.
We are aware that peace is necessary
for building a socialism,
international cooperation and a global prosperity.
The king of Morocco
couldn't just ask Tito or his staff directly:
"What the heck is going on?" That's not how things work
in the intelligence services.
From this document we can see that the king didn't know
what was happening.
Did you get these documents from your father's friend?
Okay, I'll stop asking.
They finished everything at the last minute.
As a sign of his gratitude,
Tito presented each of us with a pistol like this one
and thanked us for our cooperation.
We returned to Yugoslavia using different means of transportation
because Tito continued on his way to other countries in Africa.
While they were leaving Morocco,
the Soviet Union ended up sending the first man to go into space, Yuri Gagarin.
So, Yugoslavs were enormously relieved
that they managed to seal the deal before that happened.
We choose to go to the Moon!
We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things,
not because they are easy, but because they are hard.
Citizens of Yugoslavia, comrades,
the new atomic era and space exploration
have made people fear these ingenious creations of the human mind.
Maybe some of it will be used outside of our country,
but that shouldn't bother us, because I can say
that we are embarking with great success
in the development of socialism,
and with the best prospects for further development.
In order to raise our standard of living and to create a happier future.
Let's go now.
So, that way.
To the shore. If we can manage.
I think we can pass here on the left side.
Actually... no! No, here on the right.
Where?
-Oh, my! -If we can manage to pass.
-Wait. -Let's go to the right.
He'll fall out!
First, stop and think about it and then...
Let's go left.
I brought you here to show you where I carried out
my first experiment.
I engineered a ship!
-Really? -Really!
A ship made out of a barrel.
A barrel?
I sailed away from shore and if my father wouldn't have saved me,
I would have drowned for sure.
I got beaten up pretty bad.
I believe that. If you came this far with a barrel...
You brought us here just because of this barrel?
Yes, it was an important chapter in my life.
You could have told me about it back at the hotel.
So the Yugoslav sell their space program and the country flourishes.
And not only have they gotten rid of a huge financial burden,
but they're getting a huge amount of money for it.
And suddenly, the standard of living rises
and it's the highest in the socialist world.
Tito's person is rich and diverse,
just as rich and diverse
as the unstoppable Yugoslav socialistic revolution.
Thank you in the name of communists, for everything you've done until now,
with success, dignity and an unstoppable revolutionary flame.
We wish you, dear comrade Tito, much health and many years of life,
to lead us, encourage us and inspire us.
The Americans got the Yugoslav technology and it didn't work.
The problems started almost immediately.
So, when we get the damn thing...
I mean, we see that there's absolutely nothing.
And here we are fearing that nothing because
what do they do? I mean they couldn't even hold a damn pig.
The one that they fired off the coast.
They picked it up and roasted it and had a good time.
They had not only the pig and the good time,
they had billions of our dollars.
Meanwhile, we had to take all their plans, basically, and just junk 'em.
The Americans were furious.
What did the Americans say?
They said we sold them an "underdeveloped program."
The whole place was in an uproar.
A direct telephone connection with America was established.
We even started working nights.
It's typical for mythic constructions, opposites coincide.
On the one hand, Balkans is supposed to be
the place where this old medieval style pledges hold, you know like,
"I promise something, even if I die, I will stick to it."
"Honor." "I'm ready to die rather than break my word."
But, at the same time, it's a place of cunningness.
Can you imagine the surprise?
I think the most surprised here would have been Americans themselves.
To get a program which would have really worked from Yugoslavia.
They want Tito to explain why this technology doesn't work.
So, Tito decides in 1963 to visit Kennedy. It's a very sticky situation.
Come on in.
-Whoa! That's nice. -Yeah.
This is where Tito stayed.
This is where he demonstrated his solidarity with the working class.
Some people are more equal than others.
We have hosted every U.S. sitting president since 1931.
And when the president is here, he is conducting business.
This is not leisure, this is not a vacation.
Prior to him meeting with President Kennedy in 1963,
Tito stayed at The Waldorf.
Kennedy was very upset by the fact that the technology didn't work as promised.
And so Tito came, kind of tried to smooth things over.
Mr. President.
This is a difficult and dangerous world in which we live.
I think it's most important that we have an understanding
of the basic policy and objectives so that danger may be lessened.
Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen.
For this friendly reception and for the kind invitation
please accept our sincere thanks.
It is with pleasure that I take this opportunity
to have with you, Mr. President,
a frank exchanges of views of current development
and some questions that concern both our countries.
Kennedy issues, basically, an ultimatum,
saying, "Make the space program work, or give us the money back."
So, Tito is in a very serious predicament.
With the American Central Intelligence Agency,
collaboration did not go according to our plan.
There weren't enough security agents, because the extremists
were trying to force their way up to Tito's suite.
Wielding weapons of course.
Now, there was an assassination attempt on Tito's life
while he was staying in New York, by a man named Nikola Kavaja
who was an alleged CIA mercenary.
But Kavaja was stopped by Tito's bodyguards before he could do anything.
Because of the assassination attempt on Tito's life
it was decided to cease the negotiations
and promptly return Tito to Yugoslavia.
The situation suddenly is very tense.
Tito was glad to be able to return safely.
That was his way of telling everyone
not to play with Yugoslavia.
That is why Tito also warned Kennedy
that their security system was flawed.
In October, 1963, Tito managed to return to Yugoslavia.
The next month, President Kennedy is here,
traveling down Elm Street, past the Book Depository
and, unfortunately, there's an assassination attempt on his life
and this one is successful.
Do you think there's any connection between those two?
-Okay, you don't wanna tell. -I have no comment.
Okay.
In Yugoslavia, there is an official period of mourning.
Tito goes and signs a book of condolences in Belgrade.
People don't like America.
I talked about it with the late Kennedy.
I was the last head of state to meet with him.
He was killed a month later.
He asked me what my impressions of America were.
I told him I wasn't impressed by your democracy.
The president is not almighty.
He's being appointed a president, well, elected.
So it's not that easy.
The standard idea of a conspiracy theory is that
conspiracy theories are ideology for the common, stupid people.
Like you have a complex situation. You really cannot understand it.
So, conspiracy theory provides a simple answer.
Paradoxically, one way to cover a conspiracy
is to present it as a conspiracy theory
and counting on the fact that it will not be taken seriously.
Here's the church...
so it must be the third house on this side.
This one?
- Good afternoon. - Good afternoon.
What are you doing? Are you filming?
We're making a documentary about...
Oh, my, then you should come into our tavern!
It's perfect for documentaries! Come on.
What shall we do?
-As you wish. -Come on.
Just move it a little bit.
-You too. -We are sort of a film crew...
Please sit. As if you can't talk at a table.
You can't let a man sit by himself. Come.
-Come, Nataša. -I'll come back.
Are you going to have a drink?
If director will allow us.
Can they?
Do you have any fruit juice?
Oh, boy, a juice? In a tavern?
You can have a red or white wine.
There isn't much to talk about it.
All the old stuff that we found in this house is here.
Upstairs we have rooms for rent.
Is this your house, ma'am?
Yes, I'm the owner.
We bought this house about 30 years ago.
We've redecorated everything, put in some nice Italian tile.
Tell me, ma'am, who'd you buy it from?
Pavić. From the Pavićs.
Pavić.
You can recommend us, we've renovated everything...
Did you know Ivan Pavić?
Pavić... You know,
this can be a rough place.
People gossip and tell all kinds of stories.
What happened to him?
Some say he crashed near the ferry port
and killed himself.
Other say the Serbs killed him.
People tell all kinds of stories.
I'm just telling you what I heard. I don't know anything.
It was hard for mom.
She remarried. But she kept her last name, Pavić.
She married a pilot.
We had a good time.
-He was good to us. -That's what's important.
Yes, but it didn't work out.
So they broke up.
-Why? -Because it wasn't working.
-It wasn't? -No.
How did you handle that?
Well, I think mom
never actually believed you were dead.
I think she was waiting for you to come back.
I am really sorry.
Me too. For everything.
Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.
There were those men in our government, who ten years ago,
fought to guarantee America's role in space.
I'm glad that I was one of 'em.
After Kennedy dies, there's a new president.
It's Lyndon Johnson. And from the get go,
Johnson is under pressure to do something about the situation.
We see a real shift in U.S. policy.
Here we can see, this is a telephone call between
President Johnson and then Secretary of State, Dean Rusk.
Johnson, very angry during this phone call already, you can see here,
he says, "They're trying to make fools of us all
and it's just the biggest damn mess I ever saw."
Rusk mentions that the Yugoslavs want Tito to meet with Johnson.
Johnson does not like that idea.
He sends Rusk to Belgrade instead.
But Rusk is not there to negotiate.
Rusk is there to send a message,
"Make the technology work, no more excuses, or we get the money back."
Rusk even saying, "That they could issue a threat or topple the country."
So, the Yugoslavs decided to send 26 engineers to the United States
to help the Americans with their space program.
Now, obviously, this had to be done in secret.
They had to figure out a way to do this without anyone finding out.
The Americans demanded we deny that any engineer
had been sent to U.S. for assistance.
Ivan Pavić's case was very specific.
We fabricated a story saying that, on the island of Pag,
while driving into a curve, he crashed into the sea
with his car, a "Zastava 1300."
The corpse was supposedly pulled out of the sea.
A false funeral was staged with a sealed casket.
Of course, his wife was invited to the funeral.
She was pregnant at the time.
When I got to the institute,
an urgent meeting was called in the conference hall.
I was already late. We parted with a kiss,
"I have to hurry, bye."
Were you allowed to say goodbye to your wife?
No. From the meeting hall,
they simply transported us that morning
to the airport. An airplane took us to Langley,
to the NASA Center.
We never saw each other again.
The Yugoslavs were shocked, devastated.
Allegedly, some of them even had nervous breakdowns.
The engineers were given brand new identities.
They were told not to contact their families back in Yugoslavia.
They were also told their families would be taken care of,
and that nothing bad would happen to them as long as they just stay quiet.
It was only later that I found out from Hafner,
that my wife had given birth to our daughter.
I'd like to know what was the big reason
to take my father away from me.
There's no program in the world that's important enough
to take away someone's right to determine their own future.
If that was your personal choice,
it would be a different story.
But if somebody else made your choice, then...
Professor Novakovic ended up in the Goli Otok prison camp.
Yes, but he came back to his family.
What benefit did the family have from him
coming back in the condition he was in?
Don't worry, we would have gladly accepted you.
Would you like to meet Ivan Pavić?
Our meeting would probably be interesting.
Especially now
that we could tell each other things that we couldn't back in the day.
In old age, resentment fades.
I think we should open this one at the bottom.
-Is it far? -All the way to the end.
-Which grave is it? -Here we are.
This is it.
Your grave.
So you can see.
Whoever's in there...
Most probably nobody's here.
-I don't know. -Why would anybody be in the grave?
So, when they finally send their people in, you know what I mean,
and they're gonna work together with us?
What do you mean, "Work together with us?"
We all know more than all of you together.
Eventually, of course, we integrated but it took a long time, you know?
The Americans soon realized that this Yugoslav technology
would never actually work.
I mean, even with the help of Yugoslav engineers,
it just wasn't functional. It wasn't useful.
Tito's main goal is to buy more time in order to find a solution.
NASA was pissed off.
Because they had already spent three years of their budget on Yugoslavia,
and now they have to postpone a flight to the Moon.
He met us engineers behind closed doors.
He was explaining that we won't be left behind,
just like the wounded partisans of the Sutjeska Battle.
The Yugoslav engineers did prove to be a valuable asset.
And some of them even advanced to the highest levels at NASA.
Without any help from Tito's technology,
a few years later, the Apollo mission finally goes ahead.
Twenty seconds and counting.
T-minus 15 seconds, guidance is internal.
Twelve. Eleven. Ten. Nine.
Ignition sequence starts.
Six.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
Zero. All engines running.
We have a liftoff! Thirty-two minutes past the hour.
Neil Armstrong reporting the roll and pitch program
which puts Apollo 11 on a proper heading.
All is well at Houston. You are good at one minute.
Picking up some dust.
Okay, engine stop.
ACA out of detent.
That's one small step for a man. One giant leap for mankind.
Hello, Neil and Buzz,
I'm talking to you by telephone from the Oval Room at the White House.
And this certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made.
I just can't tell you how proud we all are of what you...
For every American, this has to be the proudest day of our lives.
And for people all over the world...
We're on our way, Houston.
Vector grid, X sign...
An extremely loud applause here in mission control.
It was greatly celebrated.
Medals were presented.
But we, the 26 engineers, weren't even mentioned.
Like we didn't exist.
A few years later, Pavić's wife, Vesna,
committed suicide.
What was your mother, Vesna, like?
I think she was devastated all her life
because she lost...
the love of her life.
Did she ever talk about Ivan, your father?
Yes.
She talked about him all the time.
Excuse me.
She was never able to keep on living
after losing him.
That makes me sad.
The Apollo 11 crew visited Belgrade.
And the Americans used that opportunity
to send a negotiating team along with them.
Tito, obviously, can't ignore their arrival.
And they basically came to warn Tito
that they're not gonna put up with any of his excuses anymore.
The money that had been given now became a loan.
And this basically sets up a conflict
between Yugoslavia and the United States that only gets worse.
In only two short days, we've met the leaders
and we came to bring the spirit of Apollo.
But we are taking more than we brought.
Doviđenja, Yugoslavia.
Tito was furious about the U.S.' new terms.
Based on the transcripts I found, Tito was genuinely beside himself
and behind closed doors threatening Nixon
saying he could leak, and I quote,
"Information about American incompetence and gullibility to the Soviets."
Nixon behaved arrogantly like a real Yankee.
He even demanded that Tito pay back
those few million dollars.
Yugoslavia ended up with a debt of about $20 billion.
Nixon was also pissed-off
because Tito was nonchalantly smoking Cuba cigars,
delivered to him directly by Fidel Castro.
A great many people in the United States wonder how a man of 77
continues to look so healthy and fit.
I wonder if you might give the American people the secret.
I have a special recipe.
Due to my constant working dynamic,
I just don't have time to get old.
We have nothing to be afraid of.
Six Yugoslav diplomatic missions throughout the United States are
damaged in a series of mysterious bomb blasts
all occurring within one hour of each other.
In Washington, the Yugoslav Embassy suffered heavy damage.
Here the bomb was placed in a shallow hole outside the furnace room.
Ceiling tiles were broken, windows shattered,
and a large hole blown out of the foundation wall.
Casualties reach into the ranks of 28 wounded.
Many suspects were rounded up for questioning.
The State Department condemns the bombings as outrageous and senseless.
Anti-Tito political terrorists are blamed for the attack.
Tito got scared and started thinking about how to repay
the debt from the space program to the U.S.
Since we didn't have the actual currency,
Tito started searching for alternatives.
Based on expert analyses,
Tito realized that the debt could be repaid by exporting cars.
They were very surprised at the Zastava cars factory
when Tito proposed the development of a luxurious vehicle.
The engineers accepted the challenge.
Yugoslavia and the Unites States of America
have been collaborating for many years.
I am truly confident that this collaboration
will deepen from now on.
For our mutual interest.
Thank you.
Wait until we have a drink and then translate.
A few years later,
Tito came back to the Zastava car plant,
where Tito was given a key to the new car prototype.
The situation was totally agonizing.
Tito gave a key to his adjutant
saying that this car was not suitable for him.
He was clearly disappointed.
It was obvious that they'd made a huge mistake
by not reporting to Tito on the type of the car they were working on.
We are confident that the Yugo offers
the greatest value for the lowest price.
I wish our Yugos a safe and quiet passage
and much success in America!
Good luck! Good luck in America!
Introducing the new Yugo!
A paramount engineering achievement from Yugoslavia.
From busy traffic to rough terrain, Yugo will lead you anywhere.
From the West to East coast, Yugo defeats the competitors.
Reliability is its second name.
Dependability and safety now have a totally new meaning.
Do not hold your horses.
Your dream of a tough, dependable car can finally be fulfilled.
Buy yourself some freedom.
Buy a Yugo!
Yugo. More freedom for less money.
Well, history repeats itself.
The Yugos arrive in the United States
and the Yugo becomes known as one of the worst cars
in U.S. automotive history.
And the relationship between Yugoslavia and the United States
just continues to deteriorate.
So, what's the plan?
Well, right up here, we'll go meet Viktor.
He used to work at the Soviet Embassy back in the 1980s.
And he has a ton of really interesting stuff,
and the American involvement in Yugoslavia.
Viktor is it, 38 B?
Yes.
This should be it.
So, Tito's failure with the Yugo means that he's starting to lose control.
And the economic situation is getting worse.
We see rising inflation and unemployment.
This huge space program debt is divided amongst each of the Yugoslav republics.
And they're complaining about it.
Tito is being confronted by his own people.
And he has to accept a new constitution
which gives more independence to each republic.
By accepting this new constitution,
we enter a new phase in our struggle for Socialism.
But Tito sees this as a betrayal.
And for the U.S., this is a now-or-never moment
to get involved in Yugoslavia itself.
This is a copy of an original classified CIA report.
Basically, what this should be called
is a blueprint for the future of Yugoslavia.
They lay out what should happen and what the U.S. wants to happen
to get our money back.
We knew about this plan.
It's called destabilization
and is based on the well-known doctrine of low-intensity warfare.
Destabilize the socialist regime.
Support political democratic parties.
Encourage more American companies to do business with individual republics.
Because, the each...
Each of the individual republics would be smaller,
it would be more easily manageable as a bunch of separate countries.
And what you see is that the Yugoslav People's Army
suddenly becomes the last unified entity in the country.
And it tries to get a handle on the situation.
The U.S., on the other hand, is pushing forward
and supporting radical democratic ideas.
As long as the apparatus of state security
stays the same, any talk about a transition to a normal democratic
civil society is pointless and makes no sense.
Be alert that the apparatus is here and working.
I remember very well that fellow of yours, Zizek.
He used to be under surveillance
by our National Security Bureau
because he propagated radical philosophical ideas.
He posed a bigger threat to Yugoslav People's Army
than some anti-Yugoslav terrorist.
As long as the relations between politics
and our army are not resolved
it is cynical to talk about our transition to a normal modern state.
Tito is starting to lose the battle.
He's getting older and older.
He's abandoned and left alone while tensions are rising.
Perhaps I don't feel as strong
as I used to be.
To give what's expected of me.
I'm scared of the day when I'll be expected
to give more than I'm able to.
On that day, I was traveling
from Ljubljana to Belgrade.
When we arrived in Belgrade, we got a taxi.
We were surprised because the taxi driver was not as talkative
as Belgrade taxi drivers usually are.
He had tears in his eyes.
And we didn't ask what happened.
We knew already.
It was just confirmation for us
that it had actually happened.
♪ Why aren't you here? ♪
♪ Pearls of dew at night are strewn ♪
♪ Over meadow flowers in early bloom ♪
♪ My bosom cries a longing tune ♪
♪ Why aren't you here? Why aren't you here? ♪
♪ Why aren't you here? ♪
♪ Relaxed, I fall asleep ♪
♪ My soul is calm and deep ♪
♪ And my heart, it whispers a squeak ♪
♪ Why aren't you here? Why aren't you here? ♪
♪ Why aren't you here? ♪
♪ My heart whispers a squeak ♪
♪ Why aren't you here? Why aren't you here? ♪
♪ Why aren't you here? ♪
Yugoslavia starts disintegrating
with many wars going on, many casualties, and the different ethnic groups
fighting amongst themselves to try to establish new countries.
Suddenly, it seemed that my career and life were worthless.
Everything we fought for, worked for,
and sacrificed ourselves for has disappeared.
In 1991,
when I saw that the country was falling apart,
I tried to come back and flew to London.
However, the scheduled flight to Zagreb was canceled
due to an attack by the Yugoslav People's Army.
I couldn't get to Zagreb.
I had nothing else to do but go back to where I came from.
I'm glad that we finally managed to find each other.
Me too.
I don't think the CIA realized the amount of violence
that was actually going to happen when these countries
started breaking apart from Yugoslavia.
They have to do something to stop the war.
So, in 1999, NATO starts a massive air campaign
against what's left of Yugoslavia.
Run! Are you alive? Run!
Ironically enough, one of the first targets of the campaign
is the factory where the Yugo was made.
This is a great day for freedom.
You secured your freedom
and you proclaimed it will never be the same again.
And America will help to encourage
more American companies to do business here.
To expand trade
and to do other things which will help your economy.
Democracy, tolerance and human rights
must prevail everywhere.
For no nation is safe, no prosperity is stable.
We must build a Europe with no front-line states.
And Slovenia can lead the way.
And America will help--
This film will be a real triumph if after seeing it,
an average spectator will become aware
not just how we are always manipulated and so on,
but how there is no simple, direct lie.
Even if, everything is a fake...
This fake precisely, in so far as we know that it's a fake,
tells us so much about the social reality in which we live.
Even if it didn't happen, it's true.
And that's the crucial message.
There's also his wife's grave.
Where?
There.
Should we go?
Let's go, Dad.
Are you hungry,
thirsty?
Fuck off, Tito!