In Popular Culture
In its lower, meandering course, the Drina is referred to as the kriva Drina ("bent Drina"). This has entered the Bosnian and Serbian languages as a phrase used when someone wants to resolve a complicated situation; it is said that he or she wants to "straighten the bent Drina".
During World War I, from September 8 to September 16, 1914, the Drina was the battlefield of a bloody battle between the Serbian and Austro-Hungarian army, the Battle of Cer. In honor of the battle, the Serbian composer Stanislav Binički (1872–1942) composed the famous March on the Drina, and in 1964 a movie of the same title was shot by director Žika Mitrović. The movie was later banned for a period of time by the Communist government, because of its portrayal of a true-to-life, bloody battle, and its use of Binički's march (banned at that time) as part of the soundtrack. The Slovenian band Laibach did a cover version of the March on the Drina titled Mars on the River Drina in their album NATO, released in 1994 during the Yugoslav Wars.
The largest impact the river has had in culture probably is the novel "Na Drini ćuprija" (The Bridge on the Drina) by the Nobel Prize laureate, Ivo Andrić; the book is about the building of a bridge near Višegrad by the Ottomans in the 16th century
Read more about this topic: Drina River
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