Konterr
Brilliant and touching
InformationRap
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Kien Navarro
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
kovacevica-21677
"In the Land of Blood and Honey" is a film directed by Angelina Jolie taking place in Bosnia during the war. It's about a Bosnian-Serb soldier named Danijel who is fighting for the Serb army, re-encountering Ajla, a Bosnian who is now captive in a camp he looks over. The once loving couple are now at a cross, as their motives and beliefs have changed since their situations.
As a Bosnian, This film is absolutely horrible. It lacks realism in the sense that a Bosnian-Muslim woman would never fall in love with a Serbian soldier who pillaged and destroyed her way of life. The same goes vice-versa for Danijel. A Serb soldier who is full of propaganda and Serbian nationalism would never love a Bosnian-Muslim girl. If anything, he'd just see her as an object. Maybe even less. Ajla is also taken as a prisoner and stuck under supervision of Danijel. This is also a very flawed idea as Bosnian-Muslim women in those camps were stuck in tight spaces and used for rape. They were never protected by anyone especially their captors, Serb soldiers. The film captures a small stint of realism in how it portrayed the brutality of the Serbs. Such as a soldier barging in the apartment and throwing the baby off a balcony just because he could is indeed something the Serbs did to young Bosnian-Muslim children. Another accurate portrayal is when the Serb soldier bends the girl over and rapes her in front of everyone to humiliate her and get a kick out of it. These small acts of brutality is the only thing this film has done regarding historical accuracy, Anything other than that, is just BS hollywood writing.
All around, "In the Land of Blood and Honey" is not a accurate, nor is it an entertaining film. I understand if the point of this was to appeal to western audiences. However, I'd rather use actual true stories from people who lived the war and use accurate information from them rather than idiotic, inaccurate Hollywood nonsense. Just because a film has a decent budget doesn't mean it's good. If there was anyone who'd ever want to know actual historical and accurate knowledge about the war in Bosnia through film, I'd strongly recommend "No Man's Land" and "Cirkus Columbia." These films are written and directed by people who have lived through the conflict and accurately portray what really happened in the country.
eric262003
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
john32935
Notable as Angelina Jolie's first movie as a director (and also as the screenwriter), this movie fails in many respects.The movie mainly centers on the life of one woman in the Bosnian war as she is held captive by a soldier who alternately protects her from the severely harsh life as a prisoner and then physically abuses her and kills her kinsmen. Had the movie just focused on this story from her point of view, it may have succeeded. But the movie strays into plot lines of military strategy of the civil war, other prisoners and horrors they face, the politics of the "outside world" ignoring the on-going genocide, and more. Each of those could have also been a successful story, but when combined into a single film, we are left with a jumbled mess of a story all the while relentlessly bombarded with Ms. Jolie's message that "war is bad." Since the atrocities shown are all performed by one side, it is clear that Ms. Jolie is also lecturing us as to who she believes the bad guys are. While I do not expect a Hollywood movie to be the equivalent of a documentary, since Ms. Jolie intended to show more than just the story of the captive woman, she should have (and easily could have) included a little more balance to the political agenda.For my other movie reviews, please visit:https://nomorewastedmovienights.wordpress.com
Lasher820
For those of you who are wondering whether this is a good film or a bad film, you can't judge it that way. This is a fictional film about a very real situation that happened in the Croation / Serbian / Balkan Regions in the 90's. Most Americans know nothing of the horrors that went on during this time period because American Media and Popular World media gave it very little coverage at best, but mostly no coverage at all of what was really happening.This is about the genocide in the Bosnian / Serb War. It depicts many points of view, form a Muslim's POV to A Serb's POV and many POV's in between. Serbians feared that Muslims were taking over leadership and with the help of Propaganda fueled a hatred of Muslims in the region. It was very similar to what happened to the Jews in Nazi Germany. Neighbors and friends turned on each other. Lovers and Families were ripped apart. Women in captivity were raped and killed, children slaughtered; and the World pretty much ignored the whole situation.Angelina Jolie learned of the conflict and researched into it and was horrified by what happened and how it was not something the media seemed to care about. She wanted to tell a story to make people aware of it, but she wanted it to be true and heartfelt.The story revolves around a Muslim Woman and a conservative Serbian Army Commander and His Father and the conflict and it does jump around and give you different perspectives. It unflinchingly looks a rape of captive women in times of conflict. It's not your typical blockbuster action packed thrill ride, or your "chick flick" romantic type movie......it's an emotional roller coaster of love, hate, politics, religion, genocide, shame, guilt, pain and loss.If you find history boring or fictionalized stories interwoven with true events tedious, then you will hate this film. But if you are interested in something you may not know much about, this film is a great introduction and insight into the happenings during this war. It will most likely make you want to research more about it, dig at the truth and the aftermath. This movie is haunting and beautiful and disturbing and dark....it's not going to be everyone's idea of a good film, but in my opinion it was fantastic!
