Damn good ...

Rating: Null/10 (20 April 2012)

If a story is good, the movie is good, and this movie is very well-written and very absorbing. I am tired of Spielberg-like movies that pretty up war, like the recent War Horse and the older Saving Private Ryan This movie gets in your face about war and its ugliness and horrid justifications, and it also brought up facts about the Bosnian war I never knew. This world went into denial over this war, and thanks to movies like this, we can see and maybe own that neglect. It did NOT make the Serbs into monsters, and that current protest from the Serbian population is just plain silly. War makes us monsters, I don't care if we are standing in the trenches or staying at home in front of the TV rooting for "our boys." It's all evil, and thanks to Angelina and her bravery in making this movie, we got to see that and there are two reasons we have war: money and vengeance. The Muslims mistreated the Serbs, the Serbs get back at them, it keeps going back and forth forever. That was Jolie's point. She gave us both sides. So if you are nit-picking over the wrong uniforms and other minor details in this movie, you are missing the point.
I would say this is a great first attempt at directing, but I think it is just plain great directing, first or not first. This movie should have garnered many awards, but alas, we love to put ourselves to sleep with shallow entertainment like The Artist or War Horse.
Gritty, brave, and hard-hitting. Congratulations, Angelina. Sorry the world didn't get to see more of this one. What's next?