Written by James Rawson, New Media, DFI

Film: In The Land of Blood and Honey
Director: Angelina Jolie
Stars: Goran Kostic, Zana Marjanovic
Running time: 127 mins

In her first venture behind the camera, Angelina Jolie has written and directed a searing, bold and compelling drama following the experiences of one Bosnian woman and her Serbian lover during the devastating Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.

Days before the outbreak of war, Danijel (Goran Kostic) and Ajla (Zana Marjanovic) meet at a nightclub in Sarajevo. As the music slows, Danijel takes Ajla into his arms and the rest of the party seems to melt into the background. Suddenly a bomb explodes, ripping through the club and burying the revellers under the rubble. This is the first of many explosions that will shatter their lives, and their country.

The next time the lovers meet is at a prisoner camp where Danijel, a Serbian officer, is overseeing the servitude and physical abuse of a group of Bosnian women. He does his best to protect Ajla from the oppression of his fellow officers, secretly continuing their relationship and employing her as his personal painter. As Danijel struggles to reconcile his nationalist devotion with the atrocities being committed in its name, Ajla must decide if she should use her relationship with Danijel to assist the plight of the Bosnian resistance.

The cinematic and logistical demands of making a film like “In the Land of Blood and Honey” would be a massive undertaking for any filmmaker, never mind a first time writer/director. On top of a very tight budget and political controversies that threatened the film’s production the film was shot twice, once in native languages, and once in English. In spite of all of these challenges, Jolie’s film is controlled, authentic and brave, with a hurried and frantic direction that matches the chaotic nature of the world on screen. “In The Land of Blood and Honey” marks the arrival of a very real filmmaking talent in Angelina Jolie.

However, the film’s successes will also be its commercial downfall. When portraying the civilian experience during times of war, particularly times of genocide, the approach of many filmmakers is to offer a glimpse of hope in the darkness: the heroic humanism of “Schindler’s List” or “Hotel Rwanda”, or the doting, protective parentage of “Life is Beautiful”. Jolie has not opted for this approach, instead exposing her characters to the full onslaught of terror that really took place, with little hope of relief or redemption. While Ajla is protected for a while, this only serves to heighten and prolong her (and our) exposure to the systematic murder and sexual abuse that was taking place in her country.

While this may be artistically laudable, it makes for very uncomfortable and harrowing, even traumatising viewing. Is this the kind of film that should be made about events that take place during humanity’s darkest hours? That is something that audiences will have to decide for themselves.