Impressive film by Angelina Jolie

Rating: 10/10 (23 December 2011)

I was invited to see this film back in July. At the time it was a secret screening. They wouldn't tell us the name of the movie, let alone who directed it. When I find out later it was directed by Angelina Jolie , I was impressed.
She did a great job capturing the atrocities of war and the lowest depths of humanity here. The movie basically shows us the events leading to, during, and after the Bosnian war from the perspective of a Serb and a Bosnian who as it so happens are lovers.
The lovers are Ajla and Danijel both excellently played by Goran Kostic and Zana Marjanovic . At first Danijel is very hesitant about carrying his orders as a Serb soldier. At first, but this doesn't last long. He either carries out or orders other members of his team to carry some barbaric actions on the Bosnian civilians they find from either rape, torture, to eventual death.
When you see what happens you are going instantly think back to the Nazi's and what they did to Jews in the name of ethnic cleansing.
Eventually, we see through Danijel's lead, genocide being committed at every turn. Ajla is captured, but she is treated like royalty (again at first) with no one else being able to touch or come near here except Danijel.
This love story though has no happy ending as Ajla sees Danijel for what he is, not an unwilling participant in the war, but an active and willing agitator in one of the most chronicled bloodbaths recorded in Europe.
"In the land of Blood and Honey" is a superb war movie showing the type of atrocities that the Serbs were accused off while the United Nations and United States did nothing to stop it until the end.
Angelina Jolie's second directorial debut is impressive. No shot is ever wasted, every shot and scene sets up something very important. The actors are all excellent.
This could easily get several Academy nominations come Oscar time.
All in war a very brutal, but realistic depiction of another bloody war in history.