“Pretty Village, Pretty Flame”
is a Serbian film about the Bosnian War.
It was directed by Srdan Dragojevic.
It was very popular in Serbia. It is based on a true story and attempts
to explain why groups of Serbians turned against each other.
The movie opens with the
dedication of a tunnel connecting Bosnia with Herzegovina. The ribbon cutter slices himself and bleeds
profusely. Rather crude foreshadowing,
no? Nine years later, two best friends
stand in front of the abandoned tunnel entrance, but refuse to go inside
because they are afraid an ogre is inside.
A metaphorical ogre, yes. Milan is a Bosnian Serb and Halil is a Bosniak
Muslim. Would you believe they end up on opposite sides of the conflict?
The plot is nonlinear, but is
structured around Milan and some comrades being trapped in a tunnel under
assault from Bosniak Muslims that include Halil. The movie flashes back to life in Yugoslavia
before the conflict and forward to Milan in a hospital. The tunnel scenes are basically of the
frontier fort under Indian attack variety.
Milan’s comrades are a heterogeneous lot. They include a criminal, a druggie, a
teacher, a family man, and a female reporter.
Apparently, Serbian filmmakers are aware of small unit tropes. Naturally, this dysfunctional group gets
picked off one by one.
“Pretty Village, Pretty Flame”
is an interesting little movie. It
effectively depicts the insanity of a civil war. Neighbors turn against each other. Best friends can end fighting each
other. War is hell and civil war is
especially hellacious. The movie is well
acted and the dialogue is realistic for soldiers in their situation. The nonlinear structure works fairly
well. There is some character
development through the flashbacks. What
keeps the movie from being better are the unreal tactics. Much of the incidents in the tunnel defy
reason. For example, the trapped group
do not flee deeper into the tunnel and the attackers do not attack after dark
or use the RPGs that they clearly have.
But hey, what fun would it be if the defenders were wiped out quickly?
Should you read it? Don’t put it high on your TBW list, but get
around to it someday.
GRADE
= B-
