LIFE COMES BACK TO THE HIGHWAY [Main Title]

UNTV travels the Zagreb-Belgrade highway two months after it was reopened through Croatian occupied territory.

Shot of open highway with one white van on the road. Shot pans to petrol station. Interview with Matija Balunović who says that he has worked there since 1962 when the old Zagreb-Belgrade highway opened. Shot of Balunović in blue overalls, standing outside the petrol station. He says it was a shock when the highway closed on the 4th of September 1991. He says that he stayed to maintain the premises and mow the grass. 'I tell you that it was like a desert', only the occasional villager would come with a can for petrol. He says that some days he saw nobody at all. Panning shot of the highway with a couple of cars on it. He says that since the road reopened he has felt much better. Interview with a man in a truck's cab. He says that he is from Kistanje and is travelling to Belgrade. He cannot believe that he is able to use the highway. He explains that as a man of military age he needs the permission of the army but that is the only restriction on movement. Shot of a Croatian police car. Shot of Balunović filling up the tank of a car. One of the drivers says that he lived in Kovacevci and now lives in Kosovac, in Okucani. He says that nobody talks about anything special when they are at the petrol station, it is a business transaction. Shot of the man paying his money and driving off. Balunović says that this is a good beginning. Shot of a Croatian police checkpoint. A car with plates from Banja Luka drives up and a man gets out to show his papers to an officer. This officer explains that this man is a Croat from Banja Luka who has permission to come to Croatia, as his home town is controlled by Bosnian Serbs. He says that it still feels 'weird to see those registration plates' because he is not used to such cars yet but 'it is becoming more normal now'. Shot of Balunović, the petrol station attendant, on the forecourt. He says that they sell petrol to between ten and twenty cars per day. He says that it is more pleasant now, with the noises of the cars, and 'life has come back' to the highway.

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