I just came back from the cinema where I saw this film. I rarely go to the cinema but since this is our Oscar nominee I thought that it is worth watching. And I was right.
Don't get me wrong. I saw this film tonight and hopefully never again. The plot is simple. A group of famous Belgrade (Serbia) actors come to Krajina (Bosnia), which is caught by a bloody war, on a tour hoping to earn some quick cash. Through a series of unplanned events they end up on the front line face to face with all the horrors of war. They eventually run into all the sides involved in war: Serbs, Croats and muslims. This is what bugs me the most about this film. Although this is a Serbian film with Serbian actors (except for Mira Furlan, who probably did the best job) the Serbs from Krajina are portrayed like a savage, blood thirsty lynch mob. This is what hurts me the most. Although we are one nation the people from Serbia think of us as primitive barbarians (especially most the people from Belgrade). While on the other hand, Croats and Muslims are represented like most civilized. I'm not saying here that Serbs were better than them but the image shown here is just too harsh.
Apart from that this movie has many realistic scenes like for example the fight between two Serbian military leaders which actually happened or the story about Muslim groups which fought each other. The film looks somewhat cheap at the times (a couple of scenes look like they were dragged out of some home made video). Since this is supposed to be a comedy I can say that in that aspect the film delivers. It has enough laughs to keep you interested during the while film and a couple of scenes which will make you cry from laughter. But definitely the best feature of this film is Gordan Kičić and his portrait of Lale. In my opinion the role of Lale is also the best written one. His points about the war and his cynic comments completely correspond with opinion of most of young people about the war, although the scene where he shouts ''I'm not a Serb!'' is a bit too much for me. I also have to commend the performance of Aleksandar Stojkovic, who did a good job.
I don't believe that this film is a good choice for Oscar, because if nothing else, if you do not know many facts about the sides involved in the war you just won't be able to understand this film. It is no wonder that the world considers us to be savages when we alone represent ourselves in that light. Go see this film and if possible forget it soon. My grade is 5/10 mostly due to great Kičić's performance.
Don't get me wrong. I saw this film tonight and hopefully never again. The plot is simple. A group of famous Belgrade (Serbia) actors come to Krajina (Bosnia), which is caught by a bloody war, on a tour hoping to earn some quick cash. Through a series of unplanned events they end up on the front line face to face with all the horrors of war. They eventually run into all the sides involved in war: Serbs, Croats and muslims. This is what bugs me the most about this film. Although this is a Serbian film with Serbian actors (except for Mira Furlan, who probably did the best job) the Serbs from Krajina are portrayed like a savage, blood thirsty lynch mob. This is what hurts me the most. Although we are one nation the people from Serbia think of us as primitive barbarians (especially most the people from Belgrade). While on the other hand, Croats and Muslims are represented like most civilized. I'm not saying here that Serbs were better than them but the image shown here is just too harsh.
Apart from that this movie has many realistic scenes like for example the fight between two Serbian military leaders which actually happened or the story about Muslim groups which fought each other. The film looks somewhat cheap at the times (a couple of scenes look like they were dragged out of some home made video). Since this is supposed to be a comedy I can say that in that aspect the film delivers. It has enough laughs to keep you interested during the while film and a couple of scenes which will make you cry from laughter. But definitely the best feature of this film is Gordan Kičić and his portrait of Lale. In my opinion the role of Lale is also the best written one. His points about the war and his cynic comments completely correspond with opinion of most of young people about the war, although the scene where he shouts ''I'm not a Serb!'' is a bit too much for me. I also have to commend the performance of Aleksandar Stojkovic, who did a good job.
I don't believe that this film is a good choice for Oscar, because if nothing else, if you do not know many facts about the sides involved in the war you just won't be able to understand this film. It is no wonder that the world considers us to be savages when we alone represent ourselves in that light. Go see this film and if possible forget it soon. My grade is 5/10 mostly due to great Kičić's performance.