A SERBIAN FILM

Director: Srdjan Spasojevic
Screenplay: Srdjan Spasojevic, Aleksandar Radivojevic
Starring: Srdjan Todorovic

Not all films have a happy ending

Even now, days after seeing it, I am still finding it tricky to put into words what I felt about this film. I had read reviews beforehand and it seemed to be one of those movies that provokes a big reaction from it's audience. Most of it negative but some of it positive. Like most people who have watched it, I did so out of some sense of morbid curiosity. Could it really be as extreme as people were saying? Basically the answer to that question is yes.



Retired porno legend Milos is trying to enjoy his new life with his young family. But he has a problem. He is running out of money. But a former colleague hooks him up with an idealistic film maker called Vukmir who offers a fat wodge of cash to bring Milos out of retirement for one last time. Milos reluctantly accepts the offer but gradually begins to realise that the film he is making is not an ordinary porno. It's more like a snuff film.



For about an hour the film masquerades as a drama, albeit with the odd explicit scene thrown in for good measure. It was slower in pace than I had expected but nevertheless still rather gripping. Then it suddenly got very horrible. But then what was I expecting? It almost felt like I deserved to be put through the ordeal that was the last forty five minutes. A new born baby gets raped, a man rapes his young son, a woman gets her head cut off whilst she is being raped. By the end of it all I just felt rather sad. I liken it to when I watched Funny Games and had felt almost complicit with the murder of a young family. After A Serbian Film I almost felt ashamed that I had even watched it. It's a good test though, if you are not feeling like this by the end of the film, then there is probably something fundamentally wrong with you.

​

Before the film, Director and co-writer Srdjan Spasojevic does a short interview where he talks about the message of the film and the censorship problems nullifying the message of the movie. Sure, it makes a broad statement on the problems within Serbia and the effects of capitalism as well as society's obsession with sex. But the method of delivering that message is so severe and harsh that ultimately the message kind of gets lost. It's like trying to teach kids about road safety by showing them the mangled corpse of a car accident. To his credit, if it is possible, Spasojevic has created an efficiently paced and well made film. It is clear he is not a talentless director and Srdjan Todorovic puts in a solid lead performance as the hapless Milos.



But ultimately it is a film that I will never watch again such is the level of depravity.

​

If you can look beyond all of the gorno then there are a few redeeming qualities I guess. But admittedly it's hard work. It's a bit like looking for a diamond in a mound of shit. It's messy work.