Flawed But The Intentions Are Good

Rating: 7/10 (6 February 2017)

In its duration, director/writer Angelina Jolie's "In the Land of Blood and Honey" is open with visuals of grimness, macabre, and will likely leave you in state of utter discomfort. The focus of the film is set in the war between the Serbs and the Croats that ran rampant between 1992-1995 as we are treated to brutal murders, heart-breaking rapes and cringe-worthy malice that will make your stomach green with pain as the violence is plenty and never turns back. Alja (Zana Marjanović) is a Muslim Bosnian artisan was forced into sex slavery at a Serbian troop headquarters as she's soon becomes saved by a dashing young Serbian soldier named Danijel (Goran Kostic) whom she befriended prior to the chaos. I can respect Jolie's decision to refrain from making the chaos a spectacle, but the love story implemented into the story adds flames to the fume while the malice is happening.
While lingering onto Danijel's arms for her protection, Ajla is in a bind between whether Danijel is her soulmate or just his property. Danijel has opposed to fight with the Serbs as they were incapacitating the the Bosnian Muslims, though he still has to maintain his loyalty under the rule of his general father. While Ajla is being condemned by the other soldiers, Danijel stands there idly looking on. The feeling of unease becomes vital to Ajla as she put in a subservient position while Danijel expresses emotional rage regarding the fears surrounding him even to the point of pinning her to the bed and tying her arms on the bed posts with a belt and is about to rape her which shows he can be quite as tyrannical as his fellow soldiers.
Jolie succeeds is making the violence hardcore while keeping the torn apart lovers romantic tale in tact. There is no apologies to the raping and carnage depicted here while the Serb troops are looked as the lesser of two evils. Civilians are gathered to sign petitions regarding their belongings to the troops. The men are shot, the babies are dropped off the balconies and the ladies are sent to sex slavery. These grim settings are seen through the eyes of Ajla's sister Lejla (Vanessa Glodjo) who abandoned the city with her baby daughter.
Sure her humanitarian contributions can never be denied, Jolie doesn't neglect that this love story is set in the middle of a war, while also showing her disdain for international organizations and the United Nations for neglecting the war as the Balkans fell to defeat. With a cast primarily of Bosnian extraction and the use of dialects, the movie scores high points in terms of authenticity. In spite of the chaos the cinematography is quite impressive making us think we have not seen the end of Jolie's directing career.
The main flaw about this film is the conflict between Ajla and Danijel which feels like a war within itself. Danijel wants to remain honourable towards his father and doesn't want to be a failure to him. But he's still has signs of him that can be fully sympathized. Ajla is just his sex toy and yet she invites herself to be that way. The movie shows no apologies when its marred with oppression. The tyranny of the human race is right in your face it can be overwhelming. And the rough relationship between Ajla and Danijel does little to help soften the nastiness that's around them.
The talented Jolie shows she has potential as a director and writer is all there and even though there's flaws aplenty, the intentions are good. The love story in the movie reflects equally to the horrors of the Bosnian War which at times will leave a bit at times uncomfortable. The war depicted here is unsettling and really enough to leave you sickened. The film is strong is storytelling, but very distracting