credit: A Serbian Film (2010)
When you’re asked to think of the Balkans, what comes to mind? Sadly, for most of those who do not live in that region, the place is often characterized to be chaotic. It is that part of Europe that will never be peaceful. It is the world of barbarism on the outskirts of civilization. One would even claim that it is a dangerous place and would cite events from the past when Yugoslavia still existed.
Today, we will be reviewing a historical film that used the element of shock to metaphorically transmit its message. The film we will be talking about is titled A Serbian Film or Srpski Film as it is known in Serbian.
The movie will have an impression of a heavily pornographic and horror movie that would be repulsive to watch, and I will wholeheartedly agree with that. However, the movie had some potential and some messages hidden behind the gore, and that will be the things we will be trying to uncover.
If you do not like reading about movies that are too gory and too pornographic, please stop reading and close the article. Even the writer was too disturbed during his research about writing this piece as well. If you’re going to stop reading now, we also warn you not to watch the movie or read summaries of it online, like in Wikipedia, as it is very disturbing.
For those who are still here, the images from the movie shown in this article will be too vague and will be open to multiple interpretations to not show the graphic nature of the film.
Warning: Strong language ahead!
credit: A Serbian Film (2010)
The movie will go down in history as a film from Serbia
It is in the name, A Serbian Film. When someone who has not watched it hears the name, they will immediately think of the country of Serbia. The movie was described to have used excessive violence and pornographic behavior, so did the creators want the whole world to know that Serbia is such a barbaric place like in the movie?
It appeared to be yes. However, if someone were to create An American Film or A French Film, the contents would vary so significantly.
Let’s look back at the first paragraph. Usually, the world sees the Balkans as a wild place. However, did we even consider that the Balkans were also a victim of its past? Did we even think that there were also victims of violence and dictatorship in Serbia? Did we even see to it that they were victims, not the perpetrators?
This idea was shown in Miloš’s economic state. Having his life almost in danger due to poverty, he had resorted to accepting an offer to create a movie that he thought was an art film. The fact that he was easily swayed by Vukmir screamed the sad reality of the poverty that some Serbian people were experiencing after the Yugoslav wars, that they could easily be pushed to do a job for the sole reason that they did not have money.
Serbia being a victim of its circumstances was also expressed in the movie, as some of the characters were intended to represent Yugoslavian states. The communist government of Yugoslavia was brutal. It was a large power towering over the people it controlled. It had free reign to manipulate what comes in, what comes out, and what happens in the country. It is the same as Vukmir having the control to choose what happens to Miloš while he had no say in what would befall him because he just wanted to have money.
The film used rape as a metaphor for the abuse of a nation by some larger government, and the violence in the movie was a representation of the violence the Serbian people became victims of.
credit: A Serbian Film (2010)
Conclusion
Overall, I understood the message of the movie, and the message was great. While I do not endorse the usage of physical and sexual violence to show the idea of suffering, the film would have been okay if there had been just a moderate amount of it. If the amount could mean that someone would be repulsed by the movie by watching an online summary alone, I think the movie went too far. There were other ways the same idea could have been conveyed.
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