Schildkrötensoldat

Zoltan Kertesz, the blue-eyed son of a half-Roma and a day laborer with constantly changing lovers, is an outsider in a small town in Serbia. As a child, he fell from his father's motorcycle, and the baker, who thought he wasn't hauling the flour sacks quickly enough through the bakery, hit him on the head, leaving him bloodied. Since then, he has had "temporal flutter," prefers to sit in his barn, and solve crossword puzzles. When the Yugoslav Civil War breaks out in 1991, his parents see it as an opportunity for their son: in the People's Army, the "good-for-nothing," the "idiot" is to become a man and then a hero. But Zoltan doesn't fit into the system there either, asks the wrong questions, and stutters while doing so. When his only friend collapses dead during a training march due to senseless exertion, Zoltan ultimately refuses to comply.