An anti war movie set in the Kosovo region of Serbia. Its about the minority Christians living in a remote village. The others are moved out from there except a family of three - a boy, his father and grandfather who lived there for generations refused to leave. The movie depicted the threat they are faced every day in their life. But the tale was seen through the boy's eye as he's the only one kid from his community with no friends.
Co-produced by Germany, it was sent to represent Serbia for the 2016 Oscars. It was a slow beginning, but ended on a high note. A sensitive theme, but very well made movie. It is hard to imagine living a life in this part when it was surrounded by conflict that can burst out anytime. To move around the places, you need a protector, an armored vehicle to transport.
Actually the movie won't show any major violences, especially the face-off between two ethnic groups. Maybe that's for the best and to avoid fresh intrigue. The film aimed to spread peace message through the friendship. So the story focused mainly on the kids and their perspective on the issue. But that's not at all, to the end, the narration shifts to a different location and lets us know how the past follows them to haunt the rest of their life.
"Tell the bishop that if he's a true Serb he should not be afraid. He can saddle his horse, won't ride in that armored vehicle."
It was a 90 minute long movie, yet I felt it ended very early. Because the pace was good and only due to the realistic approach it looked kind of dull, but all the way it engaged with the story development and with the new characters till the final act. Very interesting story progress, for every few minutes it begins to take a new turn, so hard to guess where it is heading or how it's going to end. The lines were calm and cool, even the shoutings, but when I suddenly hear gunshots, that's really aloud and created a severe panicking atmosphere like that something wrong might going happen. Reason for that is, the place was kind feels peaceful zone, at least for us as the viewers who don't know the earlier events.
I liked the kids' performances, obviously the boy in the lead. It is a children's movie, because they acted in it, but the theme is a little strong for the kids to watch, I think PG required. The location was great, the camera work was excellent, some of the distant shots and its angles were so good. The overall movie was better than I anticipated, especially the third act was a lot more suspenseful, but kind of displeased with the editing in that part. Because they aimed for a twist to present scenes in the non chronological order. I think that was unnecessary for a this smoothly going narration, but it was not that bad at all.
Actually, I took some time to realise how good it was, only after a quick recap about what I saw and to guess what the filmmaker is trying to say. Believe me, initially I thought it was a decent, but was way better and I think a fine message deliverer. It is a little unheard movie for many of us from the southeast Europe, yet worth a try once you came to know about it.
8/10
