![]() I can’t imagine the horrors that the people of Serbia endured not so long ago. Its purpose is to shock you and it does so with impunity. In many ways Serbian Film is like going to war. If you can’t imagine what is like to sit though this movie, how can you ever imagine or empathize, understand or respect what the Serbian, Albanian, Croatian and other former residents of Yugoslavia endured for almost 15-years. Is it a powerful film conceived in a place that saw the absolute worst of what humanity is capable. ![]() Is it designed to make you wish you were never born with the blessing of sight and the beauty of a moral compass. It is as much a revelation as to the power of image as it is a repulsion to all be the most depraved viewer. Serbian Film follows French cinema pioneers Gaspar Noe ( Irreversible) and Virginie Despentes ( Baise-moi) in destroying the status quo regarding on screen violence and sexuality. Built out of a film industry that is just suffering the pangs of birth and freedom only a decade or so after the war ravaged country reemerged from the former Yugoslavia and only 4 years after gaining its independence from Montenegro.īorn of nearly 20 years of conflict, genocide and a systematic military campaign of rape as a tactical weapon. The film from director Srdjan Spasojevic is ostensibly a reactionary piece. Serbian Film is not a “War Movie” however it is a battle and it’s stained with the blood of tens of thousands. But what kind of movie is Vukmir making, why and for whom? These are the questions Milos asks and these are the answers that you don’t want to know. Not knowing what the film is about, Milos agrees–against his seeming better judgment–to pursue the project for the hope that the funds will free him and his family from their drab existence in Serbia. I can’t close my eyes and not go on the journey of Milos (Srdjan Todorovic)–a former porn star with a beautiful wife and young son who is lured back into the world of adult films by a former co-star and a visionary director who promises a great deal of money to make the ultimate art house porno film. I can’t bring myself to utter the two-word phrase joyously shouted with mad delight by the crazed film producer at the center of this story. I’ve seen people die in documentaries jumping off the Golden State Bridge, I’ve seen PeTA videos, I sat with you all on September 11th and cried as the towers came tumbling down. I’ve sat behind the lens on film sets and watched every manner of chunk blowing effects shot executed 50 feet from my face. I’ve laughed at the August Underground and Guinea Pig films. I’ve seen internet porno that would make you run to a monastery. It wasn’t that I was unprepared for what I had just seen. Hyperbole that I couldn’t even argue as I sat in stunned silence with 250 other people as the credits closed. I was told time and again by a trusted source (with a stomach of iron) that this film contained scenes that would…nothing short of rape my soul. Serbian Film arrived with every conceivable warning–unlike that trilogy above. Still, in the annals of my cinematic experience, none of these films can hold a candle to what I witnessed at the Alamo Drafthouse during the SXSW Film Festival. Salo in the early 90’s, Gummo a few years later and Inside just a few short years ago. No one told me that these films would ruin me or make me physically ill but all three did that at varying intervals in my life. But the buzz on each film was a low hum and certainly not apocalyptic in scope. I knew Gummo was from the writer of Kids and I knew Inside was the second film I was to about watch in the “French New Wave of Horror Cinema”. Each film had some buzz for me, I knew of Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini from reading a Kathy Acker book in high school that featured the Director as a character. I mean, sure, I had an inkling that they were supposed to be “shocking” but no real comprehension of the horrors that would fill my screen with each passing frame. ![]() I was unprepared for what I saw when I sat down to watch them. Salo, Gummo, Inside, all of these films have one thing in common. Take that as either a recommendation or a damnation, as you will. However as I find the film to personally have no redeeming social or political or artistic value, it is my option that a 5 skull rating just for sheer audacity is both misleading and unfair to you as a viewing audience. Serbian Film is a polarizing production, one that is in many ways a work of either pure genius or absolute insanity. ![]() It is not a reflection on the physical quality of the work contained here or the execution and success of the film based on the Director’s intentions. The reason for this decision is hopefully laid out before you in this review. This represents the most difficult decision I have ever made regarding the rating of a film. ![]() DISCLAIMER: I have chosen to give this film 1 Skull. ![]()
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