Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut, In the land of Blood and Honey (U zemlji krvi i meda) will have it’s Belgrade premiere in spring, according to Jolie. I can tell you right away that it’s going to be much fuss about it in Serbia. General public opinion here goes something like this: there was a war (civil war, not an aggression), that started out of some reason (possibly ignited by the west), and all sides committed crimes (completely equal).
(Update: read my review of In The Land Of Blood And Honey here)
As soon as you have somebody talking about crimes committed by Serb or Bosnian Serb forces, the general public opinion will say: and what about Serbian victims? Read any comment section on any major Serbian online newspaper site, and chances are that this is the exact kind of discourse you will find there.
One could already predict the reception from the very beginning of the shooting: at the beginning, both Serbs and Bosnians protested, Serbs that they will be portrayed as the villains, and Bosnians that it’s going to be disgraceful towards the victims. After several screenings, the Bosnian side is now satisfied with what they saw. Which means the Serbian side will not be satisfied. There are already some petitions for banning the movie in Republika Srpska, I’m sure there will be some petitions in Serbia as well.
The fact that Christiane Amanpour likes the movie so much she even held a speech at the premiere will not help movie’s reputation in Serbia either.
But we will just have to wait and see until the movie comes to theaters in Belgrade. To be continued…
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It’s apparent between the lines which political option you support in Serbia and its even more obvious that your views on Bosnian War (1992-1995) are shaped and heavily influenced by that party’s press releases as well as the Serbian media appearances of its leaders and sympathizers. Therefore, I’m not gonna bother taking you to task over a significant number of plain factually incorrect statements that you present as general background to the Bosnian conflict and its auxiliary aspects in Serbia.
As for Angelina’s film, it’s made for the Western public and its primary task is to maintain the opinion that America has a “moral right to invade foreign countries whenever it sees fit” as the dominant one in America. It is conceptualized as an endorsement of America’s foreign interventionism and it’s aimed at those in America who make decisions and shape public opinion (general population and movie-going public ignores films like this, anyway).
The movie is just the starting point. Influential columnists like Richard Cohen from the Washington Post then take the ball and run with it. His “review” of this film is a hawkishly fascist piece of propaganda whose main point is the conclusion that “this movie shows us, among other things, that invading Libya was right”. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/angelina-jolies-movie-reminding-us-this-is-no-time-to-turn-inward/2011/12/12/gIQAi0nZqO_story.html
In addition to Christian Amanpour, another one of our old buddies general Wesley Clark loves the movie. I’m just waiting for Madeline Albright to chime in.
I obviously haven’t seen the movie (it hasn’t been released yet), but I’ve read the Croatian guy’s book Slamanje duše, which the film heavily borrows/steals/plagiarizes from. It’s a decent book. Difficult to read, brutal, extremely anti-Serb, but fairly honest and genuine. The central event in the book (Montenegrin guy who runs a Serb prison camp in Bosnia starts protecting one of the Croatian female detainees and even starts kind of a non-sexual relationship with her, all of which puts him into conflict with his disciplinarian father) really did happen. With Angelina’s Hollywood makeover, the main plot points are modified – the guy is Serbian, the girl is Muslim, and of course they have sex. I can only speculate about Angelina’s motives for making this movie, but the fact that she’s a prominent member of the Council on Foreign Relations (influential US government think-tank that’s heavily rooted in CIA and OSS structure) certainly gives you some clues.
As for the movie’s reception, even the early American reviews say that she went over the line by portraying Serbs as caricatures.
http://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-latest/in-the-land-of-blood-and-honey/5035849.article
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117946762?refcatid=31#watchit-height:386
I used to think it wasn’t fair how “one-sided” the war(s) in yugo was portrayed.
Now, after being exposed to so much Serbian, “boo hoo, the whole world hates us, must be because they’re jealous and WWII”, I kind of enjoy seeing Serbian butt-hurt.
I hope Serbs are portrayed as vicious monsters, so I can read their endless crying on the internet, if ever I get bored and need some bottomless pit of repetition-compulsion.
@Doot. Jebi se.
@Doot
That’s probably the dumbest comment I’ve read on this website.
Doot,
What a stupid thing to say. What you perceive as “whining” has more to do with fighting against the propaganda purported by former YU “victims” and the U.S. in order to justify their reason for getting involved in the first place.
There were no victims in the Balkan wars. Everyone participated
[...] in Dec. 2011, Belgraded wrote on how Angelina Jolie’s In the Land of Blood and Honey is likely to be received in Serbia. [...]
[...] Ms Jolie’s new film and the land it portrays. [...]
If there are going to be so many conflicts and disagreements – why not just BUTT OUT of this issue and leave it be. this movie isn’t really benefiting anyone, ‘good guys’ or ‘bad’.
Angelina Jolie wants to be seen as an ambassador for helping people around the world – you REALLY think that portraying Serbs as the “bad guys” is going to help her with that?! How do you think the Serbs surviving in Kosovo are going to be seen now? Hm? The ones that have been tortured, and kicked out of their homes?
What people will do for entertainment. It disgusts me.
“There were no victims in the Balkan wars”
See. That’s exactly the sort of nonsense (that only a Serb could say with a straight face), that I enjoy reading from time to time.
Here is a scathing review of the film by a Serb who watched it. He notes the mistakes and extreme bias. Mistakes such as having a snow scene written as being 4 months after the start of the war, which A.J. shows to be as some cafe bombing – 4 months after the war actually started being July or August. He also notes that there isn’t a single Serbian civilian in the movie – let alone that there are no Serb victims – that it’s as if no Serbs lived in Bosnia at all. All Serbs are in uniforms – and they are the wrong ones at that. (He also shows how the ugly lead actor Serb has been in several anti-Serb films before this, including a French made one where he portrays Serbs stealing organs from Muslims in Kosovo – which is backwards from what even Carla del Ponte’s research showed. And it was occurring under French Bernard Kouchner’s watch.)
http://templeofghoul.blogspot.com/2012/03/in-land-of-blood-and-honey-2011.html
My dear friends even the photo on the top of a page does show the movie director or marketing manager shallow understanding of the bosnian war. Based on the dresses the old ladies are most likely bosnian serb women. Nevertheless, we all prove to be naive thinking that big brother conciously, honestly and knowledgable take our side: today muslim’s side, tomorrow serbian or croatian side.
Main idea is to make money and you cannot make money these days on good serbs or “lets say the truth” movies which might be accepted only bu intelectual elite.
Agree totally that the whole idea, to make it closer to Americans, would be the same like making a movie about Pennsylvania Germans being tortured and killed by Germans if they landed in Pennsylvania in II World War. Don’t forget that US had nazis at home in Illinois.
Comparing to Americans or Germans or even Italians we are realy one nation divided by religion who didn’t succeeded to get over the minor differences. And movie is made by artists who came all over the world to make a movie about “big differences” probably even bigger than between Americans – sounds a bit strange. It is not only Serbs who should have a cold reception of this movie: it should be also Croats, Bosnians and Montenegrins as well. They laugh on us all and make us all look like the lost corner of the Europe.
Americans need to keep their noses out of other states’ issues. Thanks to Western Media, Serbs are seen as violent. It isn’t until we get tourists there that they see that we are the most welcoming people ever.
@ Doot, you are the most ignorant rat ever.
Lana,
Say that to the family Taton family.
Serbs are seen as violent because a lot of them are.
Name 1 other country where 500 of a minority tried to have a march around the block and 5000 thugs showed up to kill.
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@doot:
Here’s a few countries for you:
Russia, Jamaica, several Muslim countries, most country in the continent of Africa…
I am not saying that it is right, serbs either. And it wasn’t 500 football hooligans, not 5000! Where you there? I was! On my first visit to Beograd 2 years ago. Did you look at the news there that day? Serbs were outraged by what happened. So much violence. They just don’t seem to be able to control those Hooligans…but that’s politics. Corruption is everywhere, in different degrees depending where you go.
(corrections made)
@doot:
Here’s a few countries for you:
Russia, Jamaica, several Muslim countries, most country in the continent of Africa…
I am not saying that it is right, serbs either. And it wasn’t 5000 football hooligans, it was more around 600! Where were you? I was there! On my very first visit to Beograd 2 years ago. Did you look at the news there that day? Serbs were outraged by what happened. So much violence. They just don’t seem to be able to control those Hooligans…but that’s politics. Corruption is everywhere, in different degrees depending where you go. You should inform yourself better.
A french Canadian
I was there too. All papers reported 5000.
There are plenty of videos and pictures online that shows that it was plenty more than 500.
OK, so you named a handful of shit-holes that are as bad as Serbia.
It’s not true though. 5000 didn’t show up to kill in Russia. Jamaica, homophobia is just as bad, that’s true, and probably a lot of African countries are as primitive as Serbia.
However you look at it, Serbia is in the sludge at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to this.
6000, actually
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2010&mm=10&dd=10&nav_id=70196
@Door
My dear friend there is something I don’t understand and will never support in my life. And that is that someone enjoy more in someone else suffering and trying to fight on unjustice than enjoying life himself and try to see and understand someone else protests, fights, etc.
Beside all nice movies produced in and from Hollywood I was never laughing or enjoying almost “a must” portraying of Russians as extrem;y bad, uneducated, poor, etc. They themselves proved this wrong and I hope all us in former Yugoslavia would understand that if we want to make a progress that this non-educated comments are not contributing to it.
Because you never know when someone in Hollywood woul pick a II World War in Yugoslavia as a topic not to mention centuries of Turkish ocupation, etc, etc …
I am proud that I belong to those and for sure vaste majorty of Serbs who wouldn’t write sonething you did on this pages …
I’m simply stating facts here, Miroslave.
Am I not “fighting injustice” by pointing out where someone is being violent towards another?
I honestly think the title of this movie should be called Sarajevo- 3 years of Sodom. This movie is the most unfair portrayal of Yugoslav war since it is a very complicated subject and must open wounds to sides involved.
The main male character was turned into some sort of Shakespeare’s character. In my opinion, he was not heroic or anything- he is a libertine (morally restraint). The only thing missing from this movie to turn it into another 120 days of sodom is the eye-poking, tongue- slitting, shit-eating tortures.
For those of you who give a rat’s ass, “Doot” is the following individual:
http://www.facebook.com/togglepants?fref=ts