Character Relationship Map: Underground

Characters

• Marko Dren (played by Predrag 'Miki' Manojlović) — protagonist

  Blacky's best friend and fellow communist activist. Sets up a weapons stash, hides Vera and Ivan in his grandfather's cellar during the war, and later strangles the German officer Franz. In the Cold W...

• Natalija Zovkov (played by Mirjana Joković) — supporting

  A celebrated National Theatre actress and Blacky's mistress. She works for a German-assigned labour brigade, inspires the German officer Franz, and is involved in a forced wedding incident. After help...

• Bata (played by Davor Dujmović) — supporting
• Franz (played by Ernst Stötzner) — supporting

  A high-ranking German officer who becomes infatuated with actress Natalija Zovkov. He inspects her stage performance, demands her release during a boat standoff, and visits the tortured Blacky in a ho...

• Vera (played by Mirjana Karanović) — supporting

  Blacky's pregnant wife who initially opposes his communist activism. During the German occupation, she hides in the Dren family cellar, gives birth to their son Jovan, and dies shortly after childbirt...

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Natalija Zovkov → Bata (Family Sister) — Bata is Natalija's family connection during the wartime hospital sequence.

  The plot identifies Bata as Natalija's brother when Franz and Natalija visit him in the hospital.

• Natalija Zovkov → Franz (Romantic Complicated Attraction) — Franz's attraction and Natalija's shifting loyalties create a volatile emotional bond.

  Franz becomes infatuated with Natalija, demands her release during the boat standoff, and she runs to him before later switching sides.

• Marko Dren → Natalija Zovkov (Romantic Partner) — Their wartime connection develops into a long-term romantic partnership.

  The plot states that Marko and Natalija are a couple after the Easter 1944 events.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Marko Dren → Vera (Alliance Protector) — Marko provides Vera with shelter and protection during occupation.

  Marko takes Vera, the protagonist's pregnant wife, and others into his grandfather's cellar to hide during German raids.

• Marko Dren → Franz (Conflict Enemy) — Their opposition culminates in Franz's killing.

  Marko enters the hospital through an underground sewer passage and strangles Franz to death with a cord.

Story Analysis

A tragic political fable follows resistance, deception, historical violence, and the imagined reunification of a destroyed country.

Plot Progression

1. Bombs Over Belgrade — The German invasion destroys Belgrade and transforms private life into wartime survival. Marko and the protagonist join clandestine communist resistance while Natalija becomes entangled with Franz.
2. The Cellar Refuge — German raids force Vera and others into Marko's cellar. Vera gives birth and dies, while the cellar gradually becomes both a resistance base and a hidden world.
3. Love Under Fire — A theatre attack, a forced wedding, and a German siege bring Marko, Natalija, and Franz into direct conflict. Marko kills Franz and frees the tortured protagonist.
4. The Manufactured Peace — After liberation, Marko rises beside Tito and secretly maintains the illusion that the war continues underground. His political success depends on keeping the cellar inhabitants deceived.
5. A Country Drifts Away — The cellar world breaks open, producing violence and irreversible loss. In the final dreamlike reunion, the survivors and dead celebrate while the symbolic country separates from the world.