User Reviews

This movie was stunning. Foreign films are usually seen as so difficult to grasp and inaccessible, but this managed to hold everything together. At two and a bit hours, it sometimes seems to go on, but the finale is worth it. People laughed and people cried. It was beautiful.

Don't let the low marks take you away from this masterpiece - look at stars assignment, and you will get the picture.

If you expect black and white war movie, forget it. For me, this is by far most objective movie about civil war(s) in ex-Yugoslavia, better then Bosnian (good) "No man's land" and Macedonian (masterpiece) "Before the rain". At the beginning, you will see Serbs burning villages (that explain title of movie) and killing people, but, from middle to end, you will see completely same behavior done by Bosnian Muslims. Brilliance of this movie is because it shows you why this war was so bloody and why it is so hard to have peace and reconciliation after all. Every killing, every murder, has story behind, and movie gather them all. You have pure communist (Bata Zivojinovic) against his fellow officer, you have two best friends (Nikola Bjelogrlic - Bosnian Serb, Nikola Pejakovic - Bosnian Muslim) against each other, you have urban freaks, you have junkies, you have educated teacher, you have everything you need. Every one of them has his own reason to be there, but at the end, they all end completely empty, with only pure hate inside.

I suppose that some things from movie will be hard to get if you are not from Balkan. For example, Index (that's name of the bend) song that Nikola Kojo sing using gun as mice, was one of the greatest classics in ex-Yu (and lyrics fit the scene perfectly: "And tonight, if she listen, let her hear the pain..."). Some sentences are very hard to translate. For example, in joke scene, when Zoran Cvijanovic (junkie) want to insult Bosnian Muslim soldiers, he tell them joke that begins with "Check this out: Blonde, I mean Fata the Blonde, come to party..." Fata is Muslim name, but is obvious that joke was first intended as joke abound blonde woman, but he upgraded it in the moment. Also, in one scene you can see Serbian skinheads that are kicking traffic table with "Zagreb" (Croatian capital) written on it. Two are holding the table, one is hitting it by the head, and they are all singing "We f*cked Tajci! We f*cked Tajci!" Tajci was ex-Yu singer from Croatia that represented country on Eurovision competition few years before war started. Also, most of the scenes are extremely dark and funny at the same time, but that's Serbian humor in general.

Even without this small hints, movie still remain pure classic, to me comparable only with "Apocalypse now" and "Platoon" by its objectivity. It is very fast movie, easy to watch and hard to understand, as Balkan always was. I hope you will enjoy.

even if you were not on balkans - ex-Yugoslavia, this movie will 'hurt' you... and if you are from there - it just kills you, makes you feel pain, and laugh at the same time... it is about a great country that does not exist anymore - and maybe never existed, and about OGRE from the tunnel whick lives in each and every one of us. the subtitles (for USA) are not the first class.the translation could have been done better. anyway great movie.

An extraordinary film in the best tradition of Serbian cinematography which itself has a proved track record stretching all the way back to and throughout the Yugoslav era, and the one that far outweights contributions from other former YU regions. It's a big shame that non-Serbian speaking viewers cannot completely appreciate the spark and the breeziness of the dialogue, although the English subtitled translation is generally quite dextrous and does the best it can, by and large getting it right amidst very strong (sometimes amusingly so) language. The acting too is superb - a brilliant episode by Petar Bozovic (Sloba), a great turn from the main lead (Dragan Bjelogrlic, as Milan) - and a truly moving performance by Zoran Cvijanovic (Speedy, the self proclaimed 'unreformed drug addict currently getting anti drug war group therapy'). All in all, a group of very talented actors of a certain generation at work, and a tough and gritty piece of film making, which manages to be ominously dark (the amusement park flashback sequences are hauntingly disturbing), but also nostalgic, clinically sobering and mordantly humorous at the same time, whilst steering clear of pro-Serbian propaganda, opting instead, as another user correctly pointed out, for a sort-of-pro-Yugoslav one.

Quite revealing is an exchange between Velja (Nikola Kojo) and Gvozden (Velimir-Bata Zivojinovic, a veteran and a favourite of Serbian cinema in a routinely poignant performance) - halfway through the film - a few succinct lines spoken there which may offer a clue as to what Yugoslavia as a country was - or might have been - all about; and why events that ensued during the nineties actually took place. Great stuff, still going strong ten years on.

As a man who was participating this conflict and I can only say that this movie more realistically pictures the war in Bosnia, then any other ever. Every time I watch this movie, it makes my heart beats so strong like I'm there again and revives all the memories forgotten long time ago. The whole story try's to explain this conflict from very essence of our people, covering various aspects of how different people have got involved in this war. Off course I can't really say that 'explanation' really exists, but if it does this is the place to start from. There are some exaggerated moments, but they are so rhythmically composed, that whole picture at the end becomes very strong and logical.

I believe many viewers won't be able to accept this story, but that's their problem, I guess... For those who are openminded, not prejudiced and ready to see the other side of medal (whatever it might be!), this can be a masterclass lesson not only about the war, but about the hidden human nature, that most of people never have a 'chance' to find in themselves, but it undoubtfully exists in each of us!

For people who liked this movie, I can even more recommend other Dragojevic's masterpiece - 'Rane' ('Wounds'), which is not a typical war movie, but from other side of view gives story never spoken so far.

This is one of the best movies of ex-Yugoslav cinematography. Not 100% understandable for people who do not know anything about a civil war in ex-Yugoslavia, but this movie is truly a work of genius. This movie can make you laugh an cry in the same time. It's a shame this movie didn't get nominees for Oscar because the country was under sanctions by USA. For every single man, this movie is must have and must see. People of USA can see in this movie what did their government do to Yugoslavia. The war started because of USA and so did many more after the Yuglosavia Civil War. Now, as you can see, USA is destroying Serbia for no reason! After Kosovo crisis we will unfortunately have one more "Pretty Villages Pretty Flame"...

Another post-yugoslav film defending the humanity of the Balkan peoples in the light of European accusations that they are innately violent and blood-thirsty. It attempts to prove instead, that War is larger than man! The War easily defeats him into a monster that plunders his own house and seeks the murder of his own best friends.

The film follows the fate of a group of besieged Serbian soldiers coping with their imminent death in parallel with the stories of how they ended up as soldiers. Yet it manages to do this in more light-hearted way than one would expect! Maybe because humour has been always the last resource of the downcast, at least in this part of the world!

Balkan people may not be murderous savages, but they are masters in fashioning absurdity, and they appreciate absurdity when it happens to them. In this, the film characters stand next to the director, even when facing their own deaths. Absurdity of a fine sort fills the entire film, one might guess what is expecting him from the witty title itself properly translated as "Beautiful villages burn beautifully". I am only afraid it might lead the audience to believe that Bosnian war is portrayed here with more artistic license or exaggeration than is the truth...

"Lepa sela lepo gore" shares the same theme as the bosnian film "No man's land" and ends (very movingly at that!) with the same message - an outsider is not in position to judge or qualify those who have lived through the conflict for their actions. He has no moral right neither to blame nor to forgive. While "No man's land" relates this issue directly to the habit of international media and western audiences to qualify sides in conflicts they do not understand, this film remains less committed to the contemporary. Instead it poses the same question to all of us as humans.

A very powerful film. One of the best war/anti-war films I can remember, and there are a lot of them. Worth watching if only for a fantasy scene resembling a music video when over a rock song that translates essentially as "their dancing to rock and roll in jugoslavia and everything is going down the hole."

Mix of starkly realistic war footage and very black comedy. Essential for anyone who wants to understand any of the Balkan wars.

The movie would be one of the greatest that came from former Yugoslavia if the events described in it would be fiction. Since the war and killings are historical facts, this attempt to equalize victims and killers is just another Serbian nationalist's propaganda material. At least, unlike idiotic presentation called 'Underground', it was not made only of hate towards others. The story of two childhood friends (Serb and Bosnian) that end up on opposite sides in aggression on Bosnia is very unrealistic. Director and writer obviously have never been to Bosnia and their vision of people and their relationships is most probably based on communist pamphlets from the times of Yugoslavia that speak of "Bratstvo i Jedinstvo" (Brotherhood and Unity) among all different nations under one red flag. Movie smartly shows that there were atrocities by Serbian aggressor army - since this is undeniable fact recorded by so many western sources. On the other hand, in the spirit of the worst Serbian nationalists, it tries to justify the crimes by implying that the Bosnians who defended their country from outside aggression were the same as those who attacked the country. All in all, do not poison your mind with this garbage.

I've seen it again today. I've seen it ten years ago when it first came out. On a 17x copied VHS bootleg tape, and now on DVD. Without going into details, I can only say this is one of the movies that I've seen many times and each time I see it it strikes me as the best of the best. It's multi layered and highly symbolic at times, due to that, the only ones to understand it fully are people that have a good understanding of the Balkan wars and/or the mentality of the characters. Some see it as pro-Serbian propaganda, other see it as anti-Serbian. And that alone makes it worth watching for me. Anyways, it's a chilling and wonderful masterpiece. Sad, bleak, darkly humorous at times but very very VERY good.

My opinion is that this movie is one of the strongest anti-war drama ever made. Only problem that comes is that you must be Serb to completely understand this movie. The thing is, every single second of the movie, every single word, the soundtrack are the row of symbols that creates a giant and complex puzzle made of historical events, way of living on Balkans, way of painting the portraits that will show you and let you to understand how did the war in Bosnia happened.

Movie is retrospective story, based on the true events. It is actually a row of memories of the two Bosnian Serb soldiers who survived few horrific days, trapped in tunnel, during the war in 1991. The tunnel was occupied by Muslim soldiers and with that fact we get to the first problem that was later, after the movie was finished and played in cinemas, used as main weapon of critics, saying that Serbs just want to show that they were victims in war.

For everyone, who will watch this movie, and who doesn't live on Balkans, I'll try to explain some basic facts of the movie, and also, I'll try not to spoil your enjoying.

This movie is a story of all consequences that war brings us. It is universal story of war, showing some basic facts that are similar to all wars, but in the same time, movie describes some things that are connected only with war in Bosnia.

The story starts in hospital, where the wounded are transported from the battlefield. There, the director introduce us with two characters. Two soldiers who survived the tunnel. Milan and Proffesor, both Bosnian Serbs. From their perspective, dialogs and memories,story leads us back, in Milan's childhood, where we can see his relationship with his friend Halil ( who is Bosnian Muslim ). Later, when the war begins, these two friend will be on different side of the tunnel. Halil, in the squad of the Muslim who occupied it, Milan with the Serbian squad who was trapped in the tunnel. Then the story goes on, introducing us , with whole Serbian soldiers and one American journalist who got there accidentally , trapped in tunnel. Every soldier has his own reasons that will make you understand, why did they checked in Serbian army, and why did they wanted to go on the battlefield. Than, the story goes straight, showing us events in the tunnel ( memories ) and the happenings in Belgrade ( real time ), during the protests against Slobodan Milosevic's regime ( one of the major facts that explains directors anti-war point ). Story goes on with shocking scenes, melancholic atmosphere, and tragic events that will lead to the final conflict. Did war changed Milan? His final confrontation is wounded Muslim prisoner of war who lies on the same floor of the hospital as he does. Did Milan became a dog of war?

Story was written by journalist Vanja Bulic, who was a host of TV drama-show called "Biseri" ( in English "The Pearls" ). Milan, the main character in the movie, is actually a guy who was a guest in that show. He told Vanja his shocking story and than the screenplay was written, off course, with some artistic changes.

This movie is grotesque, shocking, drama about one time on Balkans. About fall of former Yugoslavia. About mentality of the all people who lived in it. Check the lyrics in soundtrack, listen closely every word in dialogs, follow the symbols... I hope you will understand that there is no winner, there is no loser. Point is always the same, there is only destruction, there is only just suffering.

'Lepa Sela Lepo Gore,' or in English, 'Pretty Villages, Pretty Flames' is one of the most under rated films of our time!

Director Srdjan Dragojevic brings to screen a story of war from Bosnia and Herzegovina. This story, however, is unlike no other! Through a non linear plot line the viewers are told the story of a group of young men and their faiths as the war in the Balkans unfolds. Detail, black humour and confronting imagery are all used to tell this story of courage, friendship and inevitably death, as this is the underlined theme of the movie. For reasons unknown to me, this movie has so far not received the recognition that it deserves but it is deserving of a viewing. The sound track is great too! For those wondering the two main songs are,

'Igra rock and roll cela Jugoslavija' - Elektricni Orgazam

' Bacila je sve niz rijeku' - Indexi / Crvena Jabuka

One of the movies that really changes perspectives! It focuses on the cruelty of the war as it is and on the inner developments of the characters. We follow the lives and works of a group of Serbs in Bosnian Civil War, some of them natives, some from Serbia, with diverse backgrounds (from honest peasants to junkies and thieves). The characters are not labeled as good or bad but we see them doing bad things - killing and torching the villages. The other side, Bosniak Muslims, are viewed as no better or worse - same people from the same land with the same reasons in the war that brings forth the worst in men. The movie includes some of the best scenes I saw which explain the start of the war and human behavior in them. Yesterdays neighbors turn into fiends, some to protect their families other to make money pillaging... There are no winners, just losers. The only thing to object on would be that it is sometimes on the brink on becoming a bit too comical but comical in the way that "M.A.S.H." is comical on Korean War. All in all a must see for anyone searching for a movie that will shake his guts up.

I loved this movie. I nearly cried in many parts. I have one strong criticism, however. I feel that the title is very poorly translation.

I would have translated it as "Beautiful Villages Burn Beautifully"

Much closer to the original, with more meaning than "pretty village.." which comes across childishly in English. Like a kid's book.

Otherwise, I thought that this was a fantastic movie with a magnificent Felliniesk ending.

I live in a country that once was a part of Yugoslavia. And i lived through the war. Yes, the propaganda was the only thing that give this terrible war its drive. I read all reviews and no one even mentioned the one line, one dialogue in the film, to me, the most powerful dialogue in the whole film, cruelly revealing what was this war all about, why so many innocent lives were lost, so many families divided or destroyed, because in this war brother really was shooting at a brother. The dialogue goes: 1. Why did you burn my workshop? 2. Why did you kill my mother? 1. I burnt nobody's workshop! 2. Nor I killed anybody's mother?". The whole war was about this - propaganda. People doing horrible things to each other just because they were told that the others did or would do horrible things to them or their loved ones. I carry no hate in my heart, i have friends from all sides and know that people on all sides suffered. And I know what politics and propaganda are able to do. I live in Slovenia and I'm pure Slovenian... that means I have no roots in other republics of former Yugoslavia, yet I cried when the war started in Bosnia and that wasn't the only time I cried because of the war going on. The worst thing about this war were the accusations. All sides claimed that they were pure and that the others are animals doing all the atrocities, yet they were all the same. And that is the tragedy of Yugoslav war that is nicely shown in this film, especially in the end, when Milan wants to kill the Muslim soldier in the hospital. The hate in his eyes says it all.

What an absolutely amazing and realistically poignant take on the war in the former Yugoslavia. Being of Serbian descent this movie is considered an epic by our people. With all the anti-Serbian propaganda that was spewed by the media and by other movie directors that have done films about this horrific war, it was gratifying to my nationalistic side to see a movie that told it like it really was. This is one of the first movies since maybe Platoon or Apocalypse Now that shows the true damage that war can do to the human psyche. The soldiers were seen as regular guys with regular lives before the war and not as Balkan Brutes which the western media has portrayed them as many times. What made it more believable was the fact that the people fighting in this war (Serbs and Croats) were as close as brothers before the war, and seeing the reaction of the characters to each other during the war seemed very believable.

Before I saw this movie, I read in the newspapers that this is the first movie showing the truth about the war in Bosnia,and although is from Serbia, they were saying it is really objective.But, first time I saw the movie, I was feeling seek afterwards. I was there in Bosnia throughout the war and it's not near the truth. It looks more like "partisan" movie from our common past,made to glorify the current government.In the movie Serbian Army burns the villages in rock'n'roll style(remember Rambo movies;Rambo was as popular as no other movie character before) and that was exactly what current government wanted to justify the crimes to the Serbian public especially to the youths.And, I forgot to mention, the war scenes and sound are outdated.

This movie has "BRILLIANT" written all over it. I recomend it to everyone who's looking for dark war story.

Nikola Kojo and Dragan Bijeloglic did excellent job. Ratings 10+/10

Festivals in Venice, Cannes, and Berlin have dismissed this film as Serbian propaganda, thus causing it a great injustice. Yes, it can be viewed from this angle, but more or less everything can be pulled out of context and misused. "Pretty Village" sends the same message as "The Knife" and shows all the meaninglessness of the war in Bosnia, only as a medium, instead of depressing drama, it uses black-humored comedy. But this humor is not cheerful humor, but rather underlines the horrors of war, perhaps even more striking than drama. To me, this is by far the most powerful war film I have ever watched and the best domestic film since the breakup of Yugoslavia.

10/10

This movie has many things going for it. It shows the war in a sincere authentic and unique way, it is skillfully made, and it has lot of Serbian humor in its dark crudity. However, it is also a bit contrived and does not quite live to its pretensions. But it is a fun watch, accessible to wider world audiences, and gives a lasting positive impact. Dragojevic can be described as Quentin Tarantino of Serbian cinema, his movies have a bit of that vibe (not so much in violence but in how much it "borrows" and incorporates seamlessly), but this movie falls a bit short of the best of the best of the Balkan cinema.