Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsABFFPride MonthOutfest OutfrontsSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

The Forgiveness of Blood

  • 2011
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 49m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
2K
YOUR RATING
The Forgiveness of Blood (2011)
An Albanian family is torn apart by a murder, resulting in a blood feud that finds Nik becoming the prime target and his sister, Rudina, forced to leave school in order to take over the family business.
Play trailer2:26
1 Video
9 Photos
Drama

An Albanian family is torn apart by a murder, resulting in a blood feud that makes eldest son Nik a prime target and forces his sister, eldest daughter Rudina, to leave school in order to ta... Read allAn Albanian family is torn apart by a murder, resulting in a blood feud that makes eldest son Nik a prime target and forces his sister, eldest daughter Rudina, to leave school in order to take over the family business.An Albanian family is torn apart by a murder, resulting in a blood feud that makes eldest son Nik a prime target and forces his sister, eldest daughter Rudina, to leave school in order to take over the family business.

  • Director
    • Joshua Marston
  • Writers
    • Joshua Marston
    • Andamion Murataj
  • Stars
    • Tristan Halilaj
    • Sindi Lacej
    • Refet Abazi
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.8/10
    2K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Joshua Marston
    • Writers
      • Joshua Marston
      • Andamion Murataj
    • Stars
      • Tristan Halilaj
      • Sindi Lacej
      • Refet Abazi
    • 11User reviews
    • 82Critic reviews
    • 73Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 4 wins & 6 nominations

    Videos1

    U.S. Version
    Trailer 2:26
    Watch U.S. Version

    Photos9

    Sindi Lacej in The Forgiveness of Blood (2011)
    Joshua Marston in The Forgiveness of Blood (2011)
    Tristan Halilaj and Elsajed Tallalli in The Forgiveness of Blood (2011)
    Tristan Halilaj in The Forgiveness of Blood (2011)
    Tristan Halilaj and Erjon Mani in The Forgiveness of Blood (2011)
    Tristan Halilaj in The Forgiveness of Blood (2011)
    Joshua Marston, Andamion Murataj, and Mike Dusi in The Forgiveness of Blood (2011)
    The Forgiveness of Blood (2011)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Tristan Halilaj
    Tristan Halilaj
    • Nik
    Sindi Lacej
    Sindi Lacej
    • Rudina
    Refet Abazi
    Refet Abazi
    • Mark
    Ilire Vinca Celaj
    • Drita
    Zana Hasaj
    • Bardha
    Erjon Mani
    • Tom
    Luan Jaha
    • Zef
    Çun Lajçi
    • Ded
    Veton Osmani
    • Sokol
    Zefir 'Bep' Bushati
    • Valmir
    Selman Lokaj
    • Kreshnik
    Kol Zefi
    • Shpend
    Esmeralda Gjonlulaj
    • Bora
    Elsajed Tallalli
    • Dren
    Ibrahim Ymeri
    • School Director
    Servete Haxhija
    • Mara
    Arlind Lleshi
    • Loran
    Alfred Lisi
    • Fatmir
    • Director
      • Joshua Marston
    • Writers
      • Joshua Marston
      • Andamion Murataj
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    More like this

    Lost Illusions
    7.4
    Lost Illusions
    Maria Full of Grace
    7.4
    Maria Full of Grace
    Come Sunday
    6.0
    Come Sunday
    Der Albaner
    7.1
    Der Albaner
    Complete Unknown
    5.4
    Complete Unknown
    The Albanian Virgin
    7.5
    The Albanian Virgin
    The Land Within
    8.3
    The Land Within
    Frownland
    6.2
    Frownland
    A Constant Forge
    7.4
    A Constant Forge
    Pharmakon
    6.3
    Pharmakon
    Sleeping Sickness
    6.2
    Sleeping Sickness
    A Cup of Coffee and New Shoes On
    7.9
    A Cup of Coffee and New Shoes On

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #628.
    • Connections
      Features Sensible: World of Soccer (1994)
    • Soundtracks
      Loja 3
      Written by Alban Kondi

      Performed by Produkt 28

      Courtesy of Turjan Hyska/Product 29

    User reviews11

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    Good movie, decent acting, flaws in camera and scripting
    The movie is somehow good but I had some concerns. The good part is that the movie create a full story, the scenes are mostly connected and the viewer can follow. Second, the actors are not famous Albanian actors, which makes the film more realistic. Third, local dialect was used, adding still some realism (many Albanian movies create surreal literal scripts with little connection to everyday life). Let's come to the critiques.

    My concerns are basically assumed in one phrase: "the film is tight". It doesn't change camera lenses, it lacks wide shots of the village to add a spatial sense between scenes. It all happens in three buildings and few streets. All this can easily find a reason in budget limits, but I guess the film could be enriched visually with a little more effort.

    Another limit was in the script. The film starts and ends without nobody explaining what is the kanun or besa. Foreign viewers would only guess what is going on, but also many Albanians don't know the rules. Leaving things unexplained makes the viewer nervous. Take a look to the review before mine. There is a long introduction to explain what the movie should have mostly told. This is not a good sign. A movie should speak for itself leaving little space to reviewers for their stories. We have to imagine that a wide public will see this film. And many may give bad ratings because they didn't read Wikipedia to prepare themselves for the movie. This part could have been fixed by adding short scenes of a child asking "Why do we have to stay closed, what is the kanun", "What is BESA, can we have some more of it (laughter)". An adult could have explained what the viewer needed to know. And this would be a real situation because a 5 years old child doesn't stay locked at home without asking why.

    From what I see there is still some confusion about the concept of BESA. This is not a honor code to be proud, its part of the rules in the kanun (like today's laws). Simply speaking, it's an armistice. The family which have been damaged gives to the family that damaged them the right to get out of home without risking to be killed. Since this agreement was verbal, Albanians say they have a tradition in keeping promises. However, this is not a promise but a rule. If a family broke their promise there would be serious consequences from the kanun rules itself.

    My last concern was the color black. I don't know for what reason the color black was a dark gray. Since the movie have a lot of dark scenes, this was quite noticeable. I thought the problem was the cinema, but then I remembered the trailer on youtube suffering of the same problem.

    Despite my critiques, a big thanks is due to the producers and Marston, who spend time and effort to tell an Albanian story. I loved the part of his interview where he says that he tried to find a story that hasn't been seen before. Something interesting in a topic otherwise well known to the public (revenge and feuds).
    helpful•17
    10
    • albnet
    • Sep 20, 2011

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 17, 2011 (Albania)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • Albania
      • Denmark
      • Italy
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • Albanian
    • Also known as
      • El perdón de la sangre
    • Filming locations
      • Albania
    • Production companies
      • Sundance Selects
      • Fandango
      • Artists Public Domain
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $126,700
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $26,724
      • Feb 26, 2012
    • Gross worldwide
      • $155,383
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 49 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    The Forgiveness of Blood (2011)
    Top Gap
    By what name was The Forgiveness of Blood (2011) officially released in Canada in English?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.