Everyone is guilty

Rating: 8/10 (25 December 2011)

I'd have to somewhat agree with those who think that this is more or less Angelina Jolie's very own Schindler's List and there's a bit of Romeo & Juliet element to it as well, and just like the Shakespearean classic itself, this too is a tragedy. Quite ambitious and daring for a feature directorial debut but I wasn't completely surprised because this film came from an Oscar winning actress whose humanitarian work, especially for this region, has been very passionate. Jolie's future as a filmmaker looks promising.. Jolie doesn't hold back in her effort to show how brutal the Bosnian war was. The environment looks authentic and harsh. And just like Spielberg's 1993 Oscar winning film, IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY also invests most of its time going into details about the killings and the disregard for human life. The raping scenes would be uncomfortable for some to watch. I remember I attended the press screening, it was already a few minutes into the movie and at the door there was a person who I thought at first was the studio's rep but then she told me she was a fellow press member and she was there just to wait until the rape scene ended so she could then re-enter the room and watch the rest of the film. Some may argue that this is a one sided story, everybody is entitled to their opinion, if this was indeed a movie that's pro Bosnian Muslim or pro Serb, I wouldn't be able to tell because what I saw was both sides killing each other and none of them was the better. I think Jolie is just angry at the fact that the international community did not intervene in time to stop the genocide or the ethnic cleansing, and that anger is shared by many. This is film is her showing how bad things can get when good me do nothing. And that's basically the aim of IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY. The backdrop is the Bosnian war but right at the heart of the story are two key characters, Danijel played by a Bosnian Serb actor named Goran Kostic and the other is Ajla played by a Bosnian named Zana Marjanovic. They became representations of the two opposing sides and they're both played by solid actors, Kostic has that arresting presence about him, he could be sympathetic at one point, because he's stuck between loyalty to his father and his love for Ajla, but at another point he could also be distant. Kostic's emotional range is wide and the same goes with Marjanovic, who is absolutely captivating. At one point she makes you believe that her character Ajla is the protagonist, at another point she makes you feel like she may be untrustworthy. It's a very complicated love story because what those two characters have is not exactly true love, despite whatever feeling they have for each other, Danijel badly wanted Ajla to be a Serb and Ajla knows that she's sleeping with the enemy. The line between the oppressor and the oppressed gets blurred and everyone is guilty.