User Reviews

Written by Markus Robinson, Edited by Nicole I. Ashland Before I begin,

I would like to preface this review by saying that I am in no way an expert on the Bosnian War. So, before I receive any hate mail from angry Bosnian's or Serbian's about how I am just a stupid American who is criticizing events that I didn't live through, please realize that I am not criticizing Bosnian's or Serbians or war tactics or cultural differences. My job is to criticize FILMS!!! Angelina Jolie hates Serbians, there I said it! I am joking of course, she loves all races. Angelina Jolie (Salt) receives her first writing and feature film directing credits here in "In the Land of Blood and Honey"; a film that is surprisingly almost entirely in Serbian and Bosnian. There has been some controversy (at least there was for a few months) about this actually being an idea Jolie stole and called her own. But after all is said and done, whether or not she came up with the original idea will be the least controversial aspect to arise from this film. Starring Zana Marjanovic and Goran Kostic, it is not the acting which drags this film down, it is the storyline Jolie chooses to focus on instead of a straight forward war story. Chronicling the systematic encampment, rape and slaughter of the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) ethnic group during the Bosnian War sounds like some very compelling and powerful material, and "In the Land of Blood and Honey" would have been compelling and powerful, if that was what the movie was about. Instead we get a love story, set in the Bosian War between a high ranking male Bosnian Serb soldier (Kostic) named Danijel and his female Bosniak prisoner (Marjanovic) named Ajla, and a very unsatisfying love story at that. In fact the few instances when the story turns its focus from Ajla to her sister, who has not been captured and is attempting to build a resistance against the Serbs, the film becomes far more interesting and gritty. So much so, that an argument could be made about how Ajla's sister would have made a more realistic and compelling focus for this full length feature film than Ajla herself. Furthermore, without Ajla's sister's subplot, "In the Land of Blood and Honey" is a war film that only lightly dabbles in the brutality of war for less than a third of the movie and then it's back to the flimsy love story. In the end, Jolie attempts to address the political, brutal and cultural elements that make war so complex, but spends far, far, far too much time telling the remedial Romeo and Juliet love story between Danijel and Ajla. I am not against love stories by any means, but to have an average love story set during a fairly recent war, where genocide, rape, and political cover-ups took place, the love story aspect tends to take away (or dumb down) every other important point the film is attempting to make. This is kind of like having a hardcore love story in "Schindler's List". It just doesn't work.

What will undoubtedly anger mass audiences the most: Because of the way Jolie structures her film, the tone inevitably does come off as one sided in the same way the aforementioned "Schindler's List" does. Which in and of itself isn't bad, i.e. Nazi's are horrible people. But because "In the Land of Blood and Honey" is a far less developed film, the "all Serbian's (except for one) are inherently ruthless and cruel" mentality this film encourages, comes off as unnaturally skewed especially to those (like me) who are unfamiliar with the in-depth events of the Bosnian War. Now I am not saying that the Serbs in this film, who are shown ethnically cleansing a mass group of Muslims, were not horrible people, BUT the way this movie presents an entire race (The Serbs) as irrational and blood-thirsty, could be perceived as quite one sided. And for that reason, I can see many audiences finding this the most off-putting aspect of "In the Land of Blood and Honey". But then again, I am not a critic of wars.

Final Thought: I will give Jolie some credit here for manufacturing some brilliant shots (mostly the war scenes) that work to show her talent behind a camera. But much as Jolie tries, it seems as if she knows more about the logistics of a love story than about creating a compelling war film. Not to say that "In the Land of Blood and Honey" isn't a watchable effort, and does minimally redeem itself in the final two scenes of the film, BUT how this film was nominated for a Golden Globe only proves that the Hollywood Foreign Press will do anything to hang out with big stars.

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There's something in the air these days with military related, history based dramas about conflict hitting our shores all at the same time. There's Act of Valor and its war on terror against a fictional opposition, and both 5 Days of War and The Land of Blood and Honey take on a look back at the 2008 Russo-Georgian conflict and the 1992-1995 Bosnian War respectively, weaving a fictional story in front of an historical backdrop, the former aligning itself closer to an action film, and this one being a more dramatic take that deals with a forbidden romance.

Written, directed and co-produced by Angelina Jolie, one wonders what went through her thought process when she decided to take up duties and responsibilities from behind the camera instead of in front of it, and to have one's directorial feature debut deal with such a heavy topic about genocide, sexual violence, and the inner beasts that mankind has the propensity to turn into when fighting for beliefs, regardless whether right or wrong. I suppose being a UN ambassador had exposed her to various peacekeeping and charitable causes around the globe, and something must have triggered that spark within her to come up with a troubled romance story set amidst one of the worst times in human history. She doesn't shy away from graphic portrayal of the many atrocities committed by the aggressors, and showed how humanity can crumble into nonchalance through murky politics, and when it decides to sit back from the outside and do nothing.

That's the macro picture, and the film balances it with a micro look at a more personal level through the eyes of the protagonists, Serbian Danijel (Goran Kostic) and Bosnian Ajla (Zana Marjanovic), who begins the film looking very optimistic and expectant of her date with the former, at a time of peace and tranquility if not for a bomb blast to signal the end of harmony, and a prelude of the unimaginable and inexplicable violence to come. Not before long the land is plunged into civil war, with Bosnian civilians bearing the brunt of it in what would be genocide and ethnic cleansing. As it turns out, Ajla and her family become victims, while as fate would have it for Danijel to actually be a Serbian captain under the strict, uncompromising orders from his military father, and their paths to cross when Ajla got arrested and forced into labour in a camp, if not for Danijel to come to her aid, claiming her to be his property to starve off any sexual advances from his men.

The romance here is something that drifted into mediocrity with this protection accorded not going down well amongst the ranks, and Danijel getting into a love-hate relationship of sorts with Ajla, where in times much better than the present, would have evolved into something more beautiful than forceful. It's an open secret love affair that grew, and brought to life only by Zana Marjanovic's strong performance as a woman out to survive her ordeal. Marjanovic brings about a balance in both vulnerability and steely strength in her character of Ajla, who has to decide on her emotions, whether or not she can literally fall in love and be sleeping with the enemy, while Kostic's own performance deals with the ability to show compassion, or be seduced by a master-slave power that overwhelms, and slowly but surely corrupts and spirals into obsessive suspicion and paranoia.

What became more intriguing as the narrative wore on, was the similarities with Ang Lee's Lust, Caution in the second half of the film, where a woman found herself tasked to do a job to make a stand for the oppressed and her people, given her natural charms and close proximity to do so. The conflicts of emotions, and the suspense, especially since how a scheme sans details got mooted served as an inflection point, and will leave you guessing whether will she, or won't she, and even then, how it can actually all take place since she's isolated almost all the time in a fortified location, and we aren't in the clear of any details if any were discussed at all, given the apparent vagueness. The final scene between Danijel and Ajla is intense and will serve as a talking point given the quick, convenient and inevitable way to closure.

But like 5 Days of War, this film is fairly lop-sided in its politics, so focus not on that but on the relationship that is Romeo-and-Juliet-ish involving star crossed lovers from opposite sides of the land trying to keep the flickering flame of their love affair alive amongst the chaos and destruction around them.

I am no Serb/Croat/Bosnian... the film tells nothing about events i have encountered whatsoever so i have no interest whatsoever in choosing sides..,I am Just someone who enjoys cinema if it's good.But...this Film held almost nothing pour moi.The script seemed to lead nowhere..i seriously had the feeling a few times that the Director lost all control as to where we where heading.I mean we watch a couple dancing..suddenly there's an explosion en after that there is no reference to that explosion what so ever.When they later meet again, it's as if they never saw each other before.The character studies are awfully weak and stereotypical...why bother witch Photographical composition, well lit scenes etc.when awful things like mass-rape are taking place...I'v read in other reviews ' but it was very beautifully photographed' in this story that's a weakness IMO.In the first part we see the main character,Aijla wearing a lovely yellow coloured sweater..which gives great looking camera color & compositions and atmosphere...but...why? Why still bother which such details to make thing look good on a screen while mass rape and murder is taking place? some script changes are absolutely ridiculous and very far fetched.. another nuisance...the constant very close-up manner of filming the battle scenes..i found that disturbing and a style figure.....and yes.., many people complain about this ,..in this film about the Bosnian carnage the focus lies on the Serbian atrocities during this war..but that's no problem IMO..this film is a story about what happened to a part of the Bosnian victims.The Serbian side of the Bosnian-war story may be told by another film... My main objection is the creative shortcoming. It,to me was a boring movie.and should hold lessons in Filmmaker/vision For Jolie.Next time better !

This film to me looked like a schoolgirls naive-sentiment in viewing the horror's of war. But those horrors were not presented in a horrible way... i presume the situation in reality was hell. We see a very stylish hell..with neat framed scenes , an unbelievable and for me, totally distant sort of 'love' story.., a very weak script to act on it must have been for the actors... , nice clothing and beautiful light.

I was really in awe as to where the story took me..very far-fetched and naive. and the casting ...very much stereo-typing..not a creative choice of cast.Why have them speak American with a Balkan accent? you see this in a lot of films...to make it 'more realistic..but it easily becomes mediocre...It's far better & stronger to have them speak either Serb-Croatian or plain English... I never understand why they do that....and do not break-away from such a film-making dogma.

let this 1th directional misser be a lesson For Jolie !

Bad story, bad acting, boring. One of the worst films I ever watched. Films with Chuck Norris deserve golden globe comparing to this.

I came home in a state of uncomfortable distress after watching this movie. It's been an hour now since it ended and I still can't shake the feeling that awakening the spirits of the Bosnian war in such a gruesome fashion was in bad taste.

However, I also feel the need to address some of the unfounded accusations made against the movie and its director in some of the more politically motivated reviews. In fact, this is my first IMDb review. I registered an account for the purpose of doing this movie justice.

Is the movie one-sided? Depends on what you mean by the term. All war movies are one-sided in a way. No WWII movie depicts the Germans and the allies, or even the Germans and the Soviet, as equally guilty. There's a reason for that. They're not. While both sides in every war are always guilty of cruelty, there is always one side that excels in that department. In WWII that side was clearly the Germans - in the Bosnian war those lines were far more blurred. Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that no side was more guilty than the others.

The fact remains that the movie only depicts Serbian crimes, but that is only natural for a movie that takes place in a Serbian prison camp, inside Serbian territory. Imagine if a movie about Auschwitz made a quick jump to a Soviet gulag for the sake of balance! That wouldn't be fair or neutral, it would be perfectly ridiculous! In order for 'In the Land of Blood and Honey' to show Croatian or Muslim crimes, it would have to miraculously float out of the setting into a different place with a different set of characters.

In fact, Angelina Jolie makes a point of allowing her characters to at least verbally describe the other side's atrocities, and makes a (admittedly, relatively tame) attempt at putting some blame on the international union and its response (or lack there of). Rade Serbedzija's monologue about the Hanjar division, which was a predominantly Muslim unit operating within Heinrich Himmler's SS is far more successful. It explains that the innate hatred he has for Muslims didn't come out of 1990s politics - the peoples of ex Yugoslavia have been in wars, civil and otherwise, against one another much before there were cameras to record it.

You may complain about why no movies have been made about the equally horrific Croatian war camps, but that argument really has no place in a review of this movie. 'In the Land of Blood and Honey' may be one-sided from that perspective, but that one side is depicted accurately so there's no room for crying about it.

Another common complaint is the lack of background in the movie. Why did the war happen? Why the hatred? Why the raping? The thing is, this movie wasn't meant to be a war epic and it doesn't make any attempts in that direction. It is a personal story about two people. And maybe, just maybe, you should have some general idea about the biggest military conflict in Europe since WWII without Angelina Jolie talking you through it? The script itself is compelling, but the Serbian translation of some English expressions was quite embarrassing for a movie with such a budget. Surely, they could afford to hire someone would could tell them that the phrase 'I haven't had this much fun in days' doesn't exist in that form in the Serbian language, and that it shouldn't, under any circumstances, be translated literally.

The two main characters are well-defined and realistic, as is Danijel's father, but the people around them are mostly sketches of stereotypical soldier and victim types. This doesn't hurt the movie much, as no other characters are really crucial to the story.

With that said, and the count of real characters low, it is only natural to expect the movie to be packed with events from start to finish. It seems Jolie's intention was to stuff every terrible aspect of the war into 2 hours, and it really doesn't give you any room to relax; no humorous relief, not even the exceptionally dark humor of some other movies about Bosnia. One that comes to mind is Pretty Village Pretty Flame, which is a very good movie in its own right, but looks like a slightly sinister comedy compared to what I watched tonight.

All in all, once you get over the fact that you are not going to be taught a history lesson by this movie, you may begin to see it as a story of two people destroying each other in the midst of a slaughter neither of them understands.

P.S. The 'factual error' on the movie page saying the uniforms Serbian soldiers wear are not authentic, is not really an error. In 1992, there was no 'Serbian army' to speak of, it was the Yugoslav National Army which was commanded from Belgrade. The soldiers wore uniforms with Yugoslav symbols for the simple reason that they didn't have any other uniforms. Later on in the war, that changed, and as the movie progresses, you don't see any more communist insignia on the Serbs' uniforms. In other words, why is everyone so intent on nitpicking about Angelina Jolie's first effort as a director?

It was just too much to watch this film. Not in sense of what it wants to say but time wise. Wanted to leave around half time but was together with friends so stayed. I recommend you not to bother watching it as it has nothing to offer that a European does not know about the Jugoslavian war. From the perspective of romantic storyline it is also very shallow. The unfortunate thing about this film is that a talented actress tried to make a film with quite a good cast, but none of them will be looking back at it proudly.

Money not too well spent (meaning here the budget of film and the price I paid for the ticket).

Without touching the political aspects, I try to say, I must show my greatest respect for the director Jolie. I don't know what moved her to touch such a subject right in the begin of her career as a director,I must admit though, she did a great job in this: Good cast, good story-telling, good pace,good pictures. What else could she have done better?

I can understand, she stirred a lot in the mood of audience, making people feel bad about what happened in front of the eyes of all world,especially the Europeans, simply watching and waiting it ended somehow.

And again, it must be a woman who was courageous enough to hold the mirror into the faces of people, men especially with so much ignorance and hypocrisy. And again it is men surely, claiming she did a bad job. I just say to this: good job, Angelina. Very good job, indeed.

Ignore all the negative user reviews, most of them are made by ultra nationalists Serbs that are full of hate. This movie realistically pictures war crimes done by Serbs in Bosnian war. THESE CRIMES HAPPENED and whoever denies that is no better than people who deny holocaust. Sure directing could be better but this is Angie's first movie and she did a great job for a first one. As someone who lived on Bosnia during the war (and I still live here) I am surprised with level of Realistic details that are put together in this film. If you think that things shown in this movie are "over the top" and "war porn" you need to research more. Thank you Angie for caring. A solid 7

Watching this movie was hell. Which I suppose is a bad and a good thing. Bad because I allowed myself to sit in front of the screen for 2 hours and relive the pain. Good because Angelina Jolie did a pretty good job of filming this movie. I am still not quite certain what always brings Angelina back to Bosnia and her affinity for our people, but I am glad that she took such an interest in what happened because she is showing the world what happened. This movie has completely changed my opinion of her. Before watching this movie, I thought this would be more of a sappy twisted love story between a Bosnian woman and Serb man and the focus would be on them versus the actual events of the war. But no, what Angelina did was much smarter than that, much more symbolistic and representative of the actual war. I took plenty of notes during the movie because she made it a point to use symbolism to show you exactly what was happening in the war. She didn't need to explicitly tell you the messages she was trying to highlight. You could see them for yourself. Perhaps the Serbs picked up on this as well and that's why they didn't want to show this movie in their country, but either way the love story was just as much a part of the symbolism as was the actual depiction of the murders, rapes, and torturing of the people. The love story was actually not sappy and not a Hollywood plot of getting you to watch the film, rather it was a means of small-scaling the war for the viewer. By that I mean that she juxtaposed the generalities of what happened in the war with what happened in their relationship. If you told me that a Bosnian made this movie, it wouldn't have surprised me but the mere fact that an American actress did this who hasn't lived a day in the life of a Bosnian during the war, shows you how sheer genius her script really is. The movie starts out with the Bosnian Muslim woman and the Serb man dancing, enjoying one anothers company together in a seemingly carefree and enjoyable environment. Without a warning to them or the viewer, their scene together is bombed, ending their blissful fate together and separating them into the roles that the Serb army has dictated for them. The woman is hand picked along with other women to become the personal slaves of Serb soldiers at one of their camps, while the man is the son of one of the largest army leaders in the war and forced to be on the front lines. I wasn't sure if she was trying to insinuate that the father of the man was Ratko Mladic or not (their resemblance was uncanny) but I don't think that she meant that as her focus anyways. Bosnia started out the same way. Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian Serbs, and Bosnian Croats lived together in relative harmony before the war. These 'ethnic issues' that we talk about now were minimal and never enough to come close to even the idea of a war this size. The abrupt bombing of the harmonious scene between the two protagonists mirrors the ideas of Radovan Karadic and Radko Mladic firing up their army men and their quick destruction of Muslim towns. The film continues, showing the mass rapes of the women day in and day out by Serb soldiers. Watching these scenes was so hard that I had to stop the film a couple of times simply because I knew I couldn't watch them. I could literally feel my body being affected watching this movie because my heart started to pound for these women, I started to shake, and I couldn't breathe as I watched what happened to them. It's not like this was my first time watching a film about Bosnia. I've read, heard, and seen plenty of things about Bosnia to tell you all of the same facts that someone would whose actually lived it. The major difference, though, is that I haven't lived it and whenever I watch these rapes, killings, and torturings happen, I just can't even function. I feel numb. I feel like all of my insides have turned to ice. I feel like I'm watching this outside of my body. The war in Bosnia was actually the first was where sexual crimes against women were legally considered a war crime in the Hague and international courts of law. Angelina knew that and obviously repeatedly wanted to share that message throughout the movie. Rape was just another means of the Serbs wanting to control Bosnia. Raping these women was the Serbians way of showing power over them, showing power over the Muslims. Raping these women was a symbolism of raping Bosnia of half of their power and sustanenance of their society. It doesn't matter that maybe the exact characters Angelina used were fictional, her point was that this is what really happened. She didn't make this just a scene in another movie. These are the stories of women from Bosnia who have survived the war. These rapes were real and as horrifying as it is for you to watch them, these women have to live with what happened for the rest of their lives. That thought, moreso than the actual rape scene, is what scared me the most.

During the Bosnian War, the captive Bosnian Ajla (Zana Marjanovic) is brought with other women to a Serbian barrack to serve the soldiers. The commander Danijel (Goran Kostic) recognizes Ajla that he met in a night-club and wooed her and he discreetly protects her. They rekindle their love, but can they trust on each other?

"In the Land of Blood and Honey" is a surprisingly good romance in the brutal Bosnian War and the debut of Angeline Jolie as director. The love story is very well written in the environment of the atrocities and the genocide of the Serbian army and the conclusion is perfect.

I include "In the Land of Blood and Honey" in my list of best movies about this horrible war: "Welcome to Sarajevo"; "Harrison's Flowers"; "Vulkovar"; "Pretty Village, Pretty Flame"; "Shot Through the Heart'"; "Savior"; "Bure Baruta" and "No Man's Land". My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Na Terra de Amor e Ódio" ("In the Land of Love and Hate")

Disappointing, completely and thoroughly. Completely illogical, no connection between scenes, poor acting, strange reactions by the characters. It is completely unclear what message did the plot carry and where was it going? Waste of time, full load of negative emotions! It indeed remains unclear what was the message of this film? How war is terrible thing, or how women suffer the most, or what kind of animals people can be during war times, or to show one more time how love sees now boundaries, or... It seems that screenwriter/director choose topic that is far beyond her directorial capabilities and certainly not something that one should use as plot for director's debut unless he/she knows how to get through with the initial idea on the background of other actions happening...

This is a well intentioned film about the Bosnian war but unfortunately it doesn't work that well. Despite the powerful message it wants to deliver it doesn't draw one into the story.

Firstly the good points. Angelina Jolie makes a good attempt and achieves a good on location feel. The battle and destruction scenes are quite effective - realistic not exaggerated. It is interesting to see the war from 2 sides with lead characters on both sides of the conflict.

The main problem is in the story and screenplay itself. Maybe Jolie was taking on too much by both directing and writing. There have been more main stream movies about the Balkan conflict eg Flowers for Sarajevo and Behind Enemy Lines. I understand she was trying to make a very Un Hollywood movie but maybe a bit of a more traditional dramatic narrative would have been more compelling. Continuity in the story is lacking as the story is broken up between the love and scenes of fighting and other brutalities. The romance is unconvincing. Needed some serious editing.

The main actress is good but the main actor is a bit cold. Their scenes together are awkward and painful to watch.

Overall feels schizophrenic, disjointed and self indulgent.

This film has one wrapped tight from the first frame. Any film depicting a true conflict has a certain power, but its limits are defined by the mastery of the film making. Jolie does a splendid job here in maintaining a balance between the atrocities of war and the tenderness of humanity. My only complaint is with the title. Bosnia is not well-known as a producer of honey. At least some mention in the film of honey production would've made sense in the context of the film's title. Not only was there not a scene of honey production, the filmmaker missed a great opportunity for a profound allegory...one simply made by connecting the story to the title. A little nit-picky, I know, but it would have made a significant difference in the film's emotional impact.

In the Land of Blood and Honey passed almost unnoticed among viewers and critics alike, except in the countries that emerged from the former Yugoslavia, where it created a considerable controversy.

In order to understand this, we'd have to explain the history of Balkans and origins of civil war that led to the collapse of Yugoslavia. But even the executive summary of such a story would take up more time than Angelina Jolie's feature film directorial debut.

So if you ignore historical background and accuracy, this is essentially a bad movie. The script is idiotic and acting mediocre. In order to make the movie more realistic the characters talk in English with local dialect. This might be convincing to the average viewer but sounds stupid to anyone who knows this part of the world.

The only good thing is the atmosphere at the beginning of the conflict, where most of the people believed the war would be over in a matter of weeks.

I find it remarkable that a star like Angelina Jolie devotes her times to humanitarian work and tells the world the untold stories of human suffering. At the same time it is regrettable that such stories are biased according to the current dogma envisioned by international politics and media. According to that, it is crystal clear who the good guys are and they should be absolved from all wrongdoing. On the other hand, for the supposed misdeeds of the bad guys the whole population of their country should be punished until eternity.

This is black-and-white image of the world which, in my opinion, is against the founding principles of UNHCR, where Angelina Jolie holds a distinguished post.

Very well done even when not historical accurate or some actor do not appear "3D". This movie will keep your attention through and through. Please reserve a strong moment, preferably not with your kids. Its recommendable for teens from 19+ and its the counterpart for "Schindlers List" just for the modern times.

The both main actors won't show you an extraordinary performance but it the given situation of destruction and war, you won't even miss it.

This movie also shows very well there is nobody to judge, just our self by allowing this on an international level or simply watching away ! And, this movie isn't that bad as all the reviewers try to paint it. Its having a very complex and sensitive story.

It deserves at least an 7+ and is an excellent documentation of how war destroys humanity.

Most of the people can get past a pretty badly written script – otherwise there wouldn't be so many soap opera. But if you like soap operas, prepare for some really stomach-turning scenes. As someone from the Netherlands beautifully put it – it's war porn at its highest. I first heard of the movie from a newspaper story about some Serbian gangsters threatening the movie director – Angelina Jolie, if she comes to the premiere in Belgrade.

I said to myself, Oh my, what a treat, it must be a REALLY good movie if it made THEM angry. And, Oh my, what a terrible, horrible, heart-breaking miss. There are no 5 minutes in the movie without a major logical, artistic or documentation loophole.

After I saw this movie, I remembered two other movies I recently saw. One was "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider". I laughed like crazy at how outdated it was. And another one is "The Artist".

Why? Well, in this case, Angelina proved to be kind of like The Artist. Yes, we will continue to love her, how can we not? But she should remember that no matter how good a political message is for a movie, a bit of good taste is absolutely vital for a good movie.

And, well, she just didn't show any in this movie. Sorry, Angelina. You're still no Clint Eastwood. Maybe some other day, after you shoot some 20 more thousands zombies, aliens, Russians and so on.

I could go on for pages like this. But, in conclusion, only one more vital thing for understanding why my grade is so low compared to the movie's budget.

What beautiful two main characters actors Angelina had! And what an incredible mess. How limited was the connection between them!

One point. One extra point for just having Angelina trying to make a point and investing such a huge effort in it. It really makes my heart melt. (At least she tried to make a point, unlike so many directors recently.) One extra point for choosing so many actors from the countries in the region the story actually takes place in. It's really admirable, as well as the fact that she tried to film it in Serbia.

Also, I liked the fact that the main character actors are, coincidentally or not, really Serbian Orthodox and Muslim, exactly like in the movie. It is almost like a reconciliation message in the PR story.

Finally, I really liked the fact that the movie was filmed in the local languages as well. Wow, what a beautiful… beautiful gesture.

As one review stated, the movie isn't completely honest. I'm a war child from Bosnia and truth to be told, reality was far more different than the one showed in the movie: it was worse. Still, the movie is pretty good with really nice acting and solid plot. I liked camera work a lot and the message of the movie (which is not strong enough but ... well it's still there) You should not be carried away with emotions since I didn't and I lived to tell the story of a war. There are far better movies about war in Bosnia (No man's land, probably the best) but since this is Angelina's first movie as director, it is not that bad.

Check it out, it might surprise you...