Plot
During the Bosnian War, Danijel, a soldier fighting for the Serbs, re-encounters Ajla, a Bosnian who's now a captive in his camp he oversees. Their once promising connection has become ambiguous as their motives have changed.

Release Year: 2011

Rating: 3.7/10 (18,503 voted)

Critic's Score: 56/100

Director: Angelina Jolie

Stars: Zana Marjanovic, Goran Kostic, Rade Serbedzija

Storyline
During the Bosnian War, Danijel, a soldier fighting for the Serbs, re-encounters Ajla, a Bosnian who's now a captive in his camp he oversees. Their once promising connection has become ambiguous as their motives have changed.

Cast:
Rade Serbedzija - Nebojsa
Zana Marjanovic - Ajla
Goran Kostic - Danijel
Nikola Djuricko - Darko
Branko Djuric - Aleksandar
Dzana Pinjo - Nadja
Milos Timotijevic - Durja
Fedja Stukan - Petar
Dolya Gavanski - Maida
Alma Terzic - Hana
Goran Jevtic - Mitar
Ermin Bravo - Mehmet
Irena Mulamuhic - Bosnian Woman
Jelena Jovanova - Esma
Jasna Beri - Mejrema

Release Date: 16 February 2012

Filming Locations: Budapest, Hungary

Box Office Details

Budget: $10,000,000 (estimated)

Gross: $286,784 (USA) (19 February 2012)

Runtime: USA: 127 min

Trivia:
Marija Karan, Branko Tomovic and Branka Katic were also considered for the lead roles.

Goofs:
Factual errors: Almost all uniforms, insignia, military equipment, weapons and vehicles of the Bosnian Serb Army shown in the movie, are completely inaccurate and never seen in the war in the former Yugoslavia. Whilst some wardrobe pieces (e.g. ranks and insignia) are fully imaginary items, most other military props are obviously of non-local origin (mostly came from former Soviet Block armies, notably Hungary, where most of the filming took place). Practically all of the shown 'Bosnian Serb' distinctive sleeve insignia, are actually from the surplus of The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Army and were, as such, never worn by Serbs in the Bosnian War.

Worst movie ever

Rating: 1/10

I watched this movie on the Sarajevo premiere and I watched from two perspectives. One is from the artistic perspective, like quality of the story, and as a survivor of war of Bosnia.

I will start about the artistic impression. I have to admit that the actors are very good, and certainly one of the best from the region (with great Serbedzija for instance) but also with some newcomers that are not less good actors. First of all, if a movie is made by Angelina Jolie it doesn't mean anything, it is just her try to make movies instead of acting, and I personally think she should continue acting if possible. The story is unrealistic, and sometimes to silly, I had to laugh, even though it was supposed to be a serious scene. There are numerous of details missing or wrong from the historical point, but that is fine since this is fiction. The Serb army is presented rather as a gang (of mostly 30 people) that drives in the streets and kills people, or shoots with snipers from a short distance, even everybody knows about the years of shelling and that it was a well organized army that originated from the JNA. The Bosnian Army is made up of few people that form resistance, all other are happily shot by sniper fire, from a 50 m distance. There a millions of tiny details that require insider knowledge, like uniform layout, passport is blue (which was red actually), scenes of killing and dying that are unrealistic (for a movie). Like, a child is supposedly thrown from a balcony and nobody picks it up only to wait and mourn until the mother comes back later and goes and picks it up from the street and stuff like that. The cuts are very bad, and it looks like a movie of 4h is cut down to 2h. The main two characters are in love even on different sides (Daniel is a Serb soldier a son of the highest ranking General, Ajla is a painter and is Muslim), but the both struggle with fear in each other and hatred. It is kind of Stockholm syndrome relationship but very cheesy. There are few scenes of violence against woman and killings, but since the silliness it is hard to feel empathy. I'm not sure if I can describe this part well there are so may tiny details that are silly so I would advise go watch the movie just for the sake of trash.

Now from a more serious point. As I said I have survived the war in Bosnia, and I must admit that this movie is a shame. It is a wannabe Schindler's list with more recent war memories. As I mentioned since the story is so silly it is hard to feel empathy because it looks unreal. I have seen many things in the war, but this is ridiculous. It is a shame for every victim of war. It is a try of a serious story about suffering from a person that lives in a bubble.

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