Once Brothers
Drazen Petrovic and Vlade Divac were two friends who grew up together sharing the common bond of basketball. Together, they lifted the Yugoslavian National team to unimaginable heights.
After conquering Europe, they both went to America where they became the first two foreign players to attain NBA stardom. But with the fall of the Soviet Union on Christmas Day 1991, Yugoslavia split up. A war broke out between Petrovic's Croatia and Divac's Serbia.
Long buried ethnic tensions surfaced. And these two men, once brothers, were now on opposite sides of a deadly civil war. As Petrovic and Divac continued to face each other on the basketball courts of the NBA, no words passed between the two.
Then, on the fateful night of June 7, 1993, Drazen Petrovic was killed in an auto accident. Once Brothers will tell the gripping tale of these two men, how circumstances beyond their control tore apart their friendship, and whether Divac has ever come to terms with the death of a friend before they had a chance to reconcile.
This Docu brings tears to my eyes every single time. Yugoslavia was Unified, and now not that it is Divided but the Country`s that were making it are Divided within them selves.
I am from Holland and This documentary is 1 of the best, i think The best, i have ever seen!!! It is really terrible what happened between these good friends and great sportsmen. I have seen it now 3 Times and it is really terrible and horrible to See what happened to these great friends. What an impressive story!! I Will give This documentary a 10/10!
Jade,
cover yourself in shame for the lopsided hateful garbage you spewed out in the comments.
"Croatia was attacked, not Serbia" - False.
Croatia broke off against the constitution of Yugoslavia. Croatia declared Serbs to not be a constitutional part of Croatia anymore and broke off in fault of the constitution. Much in the same way that today in Syria you have "moderate opposition" which is financed from outside, so then Croatian separatists got support for separation with force while the west spun a story of Serbian aggression.
"The Serbs planed and funded their aggression". - False
It's Croatia who spent their entire time in Yugo planning and plotting against it. Twice Croatia acted on it, in WWII with Ustashe and in the 90's again. Croatia was never interested in Yugo and wanted to leave from the start, the Serbs had nothing to gain (as they didn't) with a war. Croatia only grew in Yugoslavia, received Dubrovnik (King's present to Croats), Baranja (under Tito) and most of the WWII gains from Italy (which was made with zero input from Croats).
"textbook Serbian apologetic tactic" by 'Muddying the water" - this is laughable. It's understood that you would prefer for everything to be cartoonishly black and white in the way that Croatia's handlers made it out to be in the 90's. The same ones that now say "Assad bad, moderates peaceful and good". Same handlers, same goal, same type of people they support, and exact same story.
Croatia profited immensely from it's time in Yugoslavia, to the expense of Serbia. You have your handler's cunningness and brute strength, as well as Serbia's naiveness to thank for the country that you have now - as none of it was of your own accord.
Mirkan
"Vlade Divac did not consider the consequences of throwing the flag on the floor... for every nation this is an insult"
First of all that wasn't the Croatian flag at the time, it was the NDH flag that he tore up and threw down. Only after Croatia broke off it retook the Checkered flag as it symbol, which was banned in Yugoslavia after WWII because of the Ustasha connotation.
So Vlade ACTUALLY tore up a STILL Faschist symbol (even by Croatia's own laws) as the Croat flag today starts with the top left square as red, not white - which is the Ustasha one which is what he threw.
Also in the doc Vlade said that he would have torn any flag other than the Yugoslav flag at the moment as he didn't see it to be appropriate including a Serbian one.
Croat spamming happening as expected
Regarding the Doc - great work. Shows a class of world class talent players that didn't get to play their most important game together. Drazen's premature death is the greatest loss to basketball in the 20th century.
Very sad. I was there all the way throughout the war and yes this happened to many of us. We all have lost friendships because of politics. And yes it still hurts. :(
It is sad. I wish the war never happend, stupid politics always ruining things.
My dad sure is serbian, since he is born in Novi Sad, but his father was bosnian muslim, while his mother was serbian. His grandfathers family and cousins were from Montenegro.
My father never felt he was serbian, he felt he was Yugoslavian. He grew up in Bosnia and in Serbia, his father worked all over Yugoslavia, in Slovenia and other republics because he served the Yugoslavian army
Croats, bosnians, serbians, montenegrins, slovenians, macedonians are all the same people. Just having diffrent beliefs and accents. The country would still be here, if the war didnt happen.
The blame of the war are the nationalists but also the west world who wanted to divide Yugoslavia, because they were jealous of that country.
My dad never will forget and will always love Yugoslavia, that is why he loves and always cheers for Croatia, slovenia, bosnia, serbia, you know the old republics in any sport. Because it was with Yugoslavia as country he grew up with.
I also think it's difficult for people to understand that the scars from World War 11 were still healing in the 80s & 90s. I was brought up by parents who had been deeply effected by the war, this a living memory to me because the consequences of their loss and experience effected my life too. Sensible politicians realised to encourage nationalism at this time would be deadly, indeed it was. If you read accounts of military actions, years removed,the picture is very different from the one presented to us then. The Germans encouraged the Croat independence and the BND had agitated since the 80s. And, the atrocities of the Ustase the Croation Nazi movement (who inflicted such a reign and murder and terror even Hitler thought they were going too far) these memories were still held by parents and grandparents. The Muslims too with the blessing of Haj Amin The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, were collaborators with the Nazis, about One million Serbs were killed. So it was obvious that it was much too early for Nationalism to start raising its provocative flags and alliegance. There was a large Yugoslavian Army that could have been utilised by the Serbs earlier in the conflict, but these were regional battles with long histories in disputed territories. The press also presented this war as good guy bad guy and were manipulated successfully by set ups and uninvestigated reports. This war was a failure of diplomacy, and the expediency of politicians who ignored the lessons of history.
How sad, this is were flag waving ends up. I must say The Germans, British and Americans could have stopped this avoidable war. And despite all the western propaganda the Serbs played no more a part in this conflict than the Croats and the Muslims. A pity some of those journalists couldn't have done a better job telling the truth.
Documentary is great. Divac is good man. Drazen was too, but unfortunately Drazen lived in psychotic and fascist society where it was intolerable to be friend with someone of other nation. No one should be fooled, it was not about flag that Vlade threw to ground, its because he was Serb, and all croats who had friends and relatives among Serbs had to break all relations with them under pressure of that psychosis. Also no one should be fooled that this hate and psychosis was caused by some 'agression' by Serbia on Croatia, as that never even happened. In that war Croats were agressors, fighting with aim to ethnically cleanse Serbs who lived in Croatia. The hate they have for Serbs goes much deeper and longer then this war, they committed horrible crimes over Serbs in ww2, that make Nazis look good and even in world war I. This hate appeared before they even had any official dealings with Serbs, probably under influence of Catholic church and germanic rule, and this hate has been a constant of their politics and definition of themselves and especially their national self. Its a sick society and way of thinking. My aunt is married to Croat, both normal and good people, but they didnt tell their daughter that her mother is Serb until she was 18 years old, cause kid would be 'traumatised'. Thats just sick, completely alien to normal brain, and nothing like that ever existed on Serbian side, even though Serbs suffered incomparably more from Croats then vice versa.
This is a pathetic excuse for a documentary telling only one side of the story - Divac version. His ex Croatian friends had a very good reason for ending their "friendship" due to his support of Milosevic regime. The "equal blame" approach that this documentary assigns is historically inaccurate and misleading. It is akin to saying, yes historians say that Nazi's started the second world war, but then historians also say that allies bombed Dresden, so it sounds like everybody is to blame... This is the standard line of Milosevic apologists including Divac. His need to drag Drazen's name trough the mud after calling him his friend is distasteful at best.
I love Vlade Divac. I thank God for sending him and his wife Snežana to Sacramento , CA. They enriched our lives, not only by playing with The Kings but from their being beautiful human beings.
Vlade sure does come across as a great guy in the documentary and I actually think he probably is a very nice guy but in the case of the flag incident he shows that no one is perfect. Vlade claims he would have done the same thing even if the supporter who ran in was holding a serbian flag.
Well dear Vlade as the documentary shows from at the price ceremony of 95 championship, serbian flags were waved and used by many supporters while the country you were still representing was Yugoslavia (although just Serbia and Montenegro). I didnt see you rushing to tear if from their hands. I have not read you commenting or condemning it negatively. Nothing. Someone please send me a link to prove me wrong if I am.
Furhtermore Vlade and his teammates were holding three fingers in the air a clear Serbian symbol not "Yugoslav".
My point is, Vlade you are a nationalist but that doesnt make you worse then others. Drazen was a nationalist too, he loved his people and so do you, that is ok. You however are a fake nationalist. You pretend to stand over the nationalism and look down on others. Admit who you are, dont make documentaries on how you are better then the rest. Action speak louder then words, and you took action against croat nationalist and not serbian ones, end of discussion. Stop the bull****.
Croats, serbs, bosnians, whatever. Same language, same people. Only difference is the religion. All did war crimes - some more than others. Obvious for the "outsider", yet they all deny it.
Sad story, and I don't think he's fake. So why would he be fake? So he could become "accepted" in croatia? No s***. Why would he give a **** about that if he was a serb nationalist?
*** religion, **** nationalism - once brothers for the win.
very sad
top documentary, in unity there is strength. An innocent group of young men in friendship which is torn apart by a war dividing & bringing a country to it's knees, I wander was the price of 130,000 lives worth it and is the continuation of the war in kosovo worth it. Ask those whom dragged a nation into it. May the people learn & never allow such to be repeated & may we have the courage to stand for justice & speak against injustice weather it effects us or not.
@ Boris
"and NATO bombarded only bridges and infrastructure in serbia"
Only? Well you are somewhat right but the infrastructure includes civilian infrastructure. They also used depleted uranium, which continues to poison all life in Serbia. But it seems that the US thinks that that was perfectly legal and necessary...
@ Boris
"btw, USA never helped croatia, in her war of indenpendence, USA attacked serbia (by NATO) only after serbia attacked Kosovo"
You need to do some research.
Start with Operation Deny Flight(1993). Then turn your attention operation storm (1995) and then Operation Deliberate Force(1995). And then i guess you can review the NATO bombing of Serbia (1999).
These are some of NATO offensives against Serb forces in Croatia, BiH and Serbia that helped the Croat Bosnian forces. They all predate the 1999 bombing campaign...
It seems to me that the point of this doc was to be a refreshing look on the war and to have the friendship between Petrovic and Divac serve as a microcosm of what should happen on the larger scale between the two people. And yet there are some who purposefully deter this point and instead head in the opposite direction.
I find it annoying that there are still many Croats who feel like they are obligated to bring the past out of its shallow grave and fashion the threads of history to their liking. It is interesting that Jade is quick to point out the Serb aggression against Croats in Srpska Krajina in the 90's yet when WWII comes up you say:
"I agree with your analysis about the second world war here, that saw unspeakable crimes committed by both [C]roats and Serbs"
Oh? Unspeakable crimes committed by BOTH Croats and Serbs? But when on the topic of the Yugoslav war, Jade takes no interest in talking about any unspeakable crimes committed by Croats, such as what had happened during Operation Storm. It seems just a bit ridiculous to me that Jade would almost deny (or at least deny the importance of) that any crimes were committed against Serbs, including ethnic cleansing. What happened to those Serbs who compromised 12.2% of the 1991 population of Croatia? Why did their population droop to 4.5% after the war? It's not because they were asked nicely to leave.
I could mention Jasenovac and the number of Serbs killed in that camp in WWII by Croats and i'm sure some people will say that this wasn't as bad as what happened in the 90's, or as bad as what Serbs did later. Those people are the kind of people that i simply cannot stand. People need to realize that wars are not black and white. Most often than not all belligerents are guilty of murder and crimes. Must i remind you that it was called The Wars of Yugoslav Succession not the Massacres of Yugoslav Succession. If it were a massacre then you would be right, but it wasn't. It's time for all sides to admit that they are guilty of crimes and MOVE ON! One last thing, i would like people to realize that even if you believe that Croats suffered more during the 90's it is illogical to see Croats as the only victims during the war. Serbs suffered casualties and crimes as well at the hands of Croats. We need to understand that the only way for all of us to move on and stop the hate is for everyone to apologize and admit to the crimes that each committed (and yes you did commit crimes).
Serbia already apologized, wtf are you waiting for?
and chetniks didnt?
Real intelligent answer and mature argument.
Tell me , who did served Hitler in WW2 ? Croatia ....cover your face with your ears please.
I feel sorry for the nation whoose name originates from the name SERB=SERVANT
so if the chetniks were nacis how did they rescue 500 American pilots?
and again Vlade Divac is in the video.........
sorry but world history and Serbian history are very different...they've turned their biggest defeats into their biggest victories....including the battle at Kosovo Polje!!
enough said...
Serbian Expansionism, you croats and yr HRT HDZ propaganda... First of all the priority of the serbs then was to secure bosnia ( a made up state of majority serbian population which u were all too happy to try and split with us till the americans objected). Since all hell was braking loose and slovenia and macedonia left (WITHOUT MUCH INCIDENT COS NO ONE GAVE A DAMN even though slovenia was economically superior). The reason JNA forces attacked croatia was the large population of serbs in the kraijna region of croatia. The croatians latter showed their moral superiority during operation storm which you disgustingly celebrate every year. In serbia now there is not one national monument to anyone killed in the war nor do peoopl feel proud about what happened in srebrenica. But the fact remains that croatians enjoy their myths and are under much more of a false illusion about the war than serbs. Now i dont give a damn whether u hate me or not get over yourself is what i am saying... and the flag divac through was an ustasa flag not croatian flag like there is black flag of the chatniks with the motto and there is flag of republic of serbia simple as that. I always found it funny when croatians claim they were both attacked and then somehow also starting a war of independece (haha) because somehow to croatians yugoslavia= serbia although now every day on hrt2 all u get is partisan films (funny no mention of jasenovac....)
Divac is an a$$hole,and he will always be that!!!When Croatia national team walked away from the medal giving ceremony, everybody said that was a rude act... but if you watch the video you can see 3 fingers held high even by Vlade... And Croats know what those 3 fingers mean... so don't give me no bullsh*t that he's sorry... thats why the Croats walked away because thats their greeting made by the chetnics.
I don't believe him for one second and Drazen was right to ignore him to the very end of his life....
Drazen was a proud Croatian, even though he was a part Serb by his father side!!!! And thats why we respect him so much.
please don't talk about mentality, just read your history books, and if that is not enough, i invite you to come in serbia and croatia, end just read graffity, news papers and tv in both countries, then it will be perfectly clear for you what is mentality (btw i live in both countries mother is croatian and father is serb, so i know what i am talking about)
as i mentioned before -poland is to blame for WW2, along with britain... c'mon... and if you want statistics, feel free to compare how many serbians died in comparison to croats and muslims, same thing for refugees... i don't blame serbians, but i do blame serbia... note the difference!