This film is probably going to change the way you see war and whats amazing - it does that without one single combat scene or without blood. It is about several men sharing their experience from Yugoslavian conflict that occurred 20 years ago. They are Serbs, Croatians and Bosnians who fought against each other and now they share the same conference room in hotel to face those horrors again in therapy. I won't say more. Sounds boring? It isn't at all. Great performances, great script. It is not war movie. It is not psychological drama. It is definitely not Hollywood movie. I don't really know what it is.....but it 's really good.
5 Reviews
War - what is it good for? Absolutely nothing...
mojca-827 April 2018
I went to see this film the other day honestly expecting another straightforward post-war treatise on the horrors of war on the terrritories of former Yugoslavia. Instead, I got something much more nuanced and even therapeutic. This is a story about a group of participants of these wars that gathers in present day in a remote location in central Bosnia, trying to work through thorugh their various forms of PTSD through group therapy. The men belong to different warring factions, the goal of the therapy being to confront former enemies to achieve better results. They start by playing banal therapeutic games that on one hand morph into all-night drinking sessions. On the other hand, the group therapy evolves into role playing, where the participants have to describe and then play out their most defining shameful or hurtful events. As details of individual personal histories come to light, the situation becomes very volatile.
It is a testament to the amazing acting skills of the entire cast, that the viewer cannot remain emotionally uninvolved. As has been written elsewhere, the road to forgiveness begins by forgiving yourself. Which proves to be especially difficult in a culture where the boys are not supposed to cry but rather pretend that everything is fine. All this makes for a compelling viewing experience.
Even though the film ending remains uncompromisingly open, this is much more realistic and true to life than any kind of studio-designed narrative. Also, the film as a whole could be interpreted as the first step on the rocky path towards redemption and reconciliation.
It is a testament to the amazing acting skills of the entire cast, that the viewer cannot remain emotionally uninvolved. As has been written elsewhere, the road to forgiveness begins by forgiving yourself. Which proves to be especially difficult in a culture where the boys are not supposed to cry but rather pretend that everything is fine. All this makes for a compelling viewing experience.
Even though the film ending remains uncompromisingly open, this is much more realistic and true to life than any kind of studio-designed narrative. Also, the film as a whole could be interpreted as the first step on the rocky path towards redemption and reconciliation.
useful
Kirpianuscus16 June 2018
An useful film. for remember. for understand. for not ignore. few men after 20 years, in a hotel. a sort of therapy. the war as lead character. confessions. reactions. emotions. differences. friendship. testimonies. and the fury. it is a magnificent film. out of any genre. because it is one of wise exercises to exorcise the past. the result - to be front against your conscience. to fight against questions , so real in the case of each "if". a film about the war from the ex Yugoslavia in the last decade of XX century admirable for its profound honesty. a "sine studio" perspective about a fundamental event at the level of individual experience. no defeted parts . no vanquers. only lives. and their fragile equilibrium, deep traumas.that is it.
Politically correct... Again...
buiger2 August 2020
The biggest problem with this movie is political correctness...
I will explain:
The movie claims that they were all the same.
Maybe as individuals, victims in the war, they were. But otherwise they were not.
What nobody seems to understand is that war yes, is bad, but the culprits are always and only those who started it, nobody else. Are all culpable for their nation starting a war? I say yes. Just think about it, was only Hitler to blame for WW2 or was it the German people that elected him, the German people who went to fight for him, the German people who cheered him when he defeated France in 1940? Every single one of them is culpable. And what about those (very few at the time) who opposed him? Well, they are also culpable, because as one wise man once said: 'The only thing required for evil to win is for good men to do nothing'.
The same goes for war crimes. All sides commit war crimes in a war, but the only culpable ones are the ones that started the war... Think about it: do you think the allies committed no war crimes in WW2? Of course they did. Just think of the British assault on the French naval base in Algeria in 1940. The British slaughtered over 2000 French sailors in cold blood. Was that a war crime? Of course it was. Where the British culpable? Of course not, they had to do it because they were forced into a war they did not want.
Otherwise this film was a decent albeit flawed attempt at psychoanalysis of war and its effects on those involved, because it misses the main point as mentioned above.
What nobody seems to understand is that war yes, is bad, but the culprits are always and only those who started it, nobody else. Are all culpable for their nation starting a war? I say yes. Just think about it, was only Hitler to blame for WW2 or was it the German people that elected him, the German people who went to fight for him, the German people who cheered him when he defeated France in 1940? Every single one of them is culpable. And what about those (very few at the time) who opposed him? Well, they are also culpable, because as one wise man once said: 'The only thing required for evil to win is for good men to do nothing'.
The same goes for war crimes. All sides commit war crimes in a war, but the only culpable ones are the ones that started the war... Think about it: do you think the allies committed no war crimes in WW2? Of course they did. Just think of the British assault on the French naval base in Algeria in 1940. The British slaughtered over 2000 French sailors in cold blood. Was that a war crime? Of course it was. Where the British culpable? Of course not, they had to do it because they were forced into a war they did not want.
Otherwise this film was a decent albeit flawed attempt at psychoanalysis of war and its effects on those involved, because it misses the main point as mentioned above.
Naive
rinakarinaka15 March 2020
I did not like the movie. Dull, boring and and terrible acting.
I know ppl that were like - oh, you gotta see it, great acting and so on. But, in truth, you gotta see it to know what's a really, really terrible acting.
Naive story with good intention but lousy and uninspired execution.
Skip it.
I know ppl that were like - oh, you gotta see it, great acting and so on. But, in truth, you gotta see it to know what's a really, really terrible acting.
Naive story with good intention but lousy and uninspired execution.
Skip it.
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