Vegetarian Cannibal

A while ago someone launched a rumour in here the Croatian press that this film was going to be nominated for an Oscar for the best foreign picture. HA HA HA HA HA. Good one! Marketing genius, whoever made that one up.

Well, not only is it not being considered for an Oscar or any kind of prestigious award like that, it should actually be given a Razzie for one of the worst films ever. Luckily for Branko Schmidt, the piece is too obscure to actually get a Razzie. So that's one upside of living in Croatia, eh?

That and maybe the fact that Croatian cinematography isn't renowned for spewing out masterpieces in general, so maybe within the scope of that environment this film even compares as "okay". On a more global scale I don't think it deserves any attention.

In short I would describe it as a very sketchy, shallow piece whose story line lacks development and is poorly narrated through sporadic and thin dialogue between superficial, grotesque characters whose motivation is at best - unclear.

Many mediocre films suffer from lack of idea how to end a story, even if their beginning was promising. Cannibal Vegetarian lands "in medias res" with a chaotic speed-sequence that is supposed to reflect the frantic personality of the main character. Perhaps this style may appeal to younger generations. This form of narration continues throughout the film. Unfortunately the director seemed to be so preoccupied with painting the pathology of the main character's psyche that he forgot to develop any other character, or even give a flow and some direction to the actual story being told. Just when you think the plot is about to culminate, it ends abruptly as if the writer had just given up. You get dragged through 85 minutes of painful, forced interactions between all-bad-guys characters to be given no resolution and no message?

What an unfortunate collision of bad writing and unimaginative directing.

at first sigh, it seems be not easy for a not East European to understand this provocative film. it could be define as thriller, as dark comedy, as satire or, so simple, as horror. but , basically, it is a fresco of a system work. corrupted, fake, egocentric, interested by appearances, brutal, hypocritical. and its virtue is to be the film of a real good director who reminds more than presents for a public familiar with the realities from health system.a Croatian movie who has the great virtue to be honest about everyday sins. because it is a film about the importance of appearances. about a not comfortable form of survive of mediocrity. and, sure, about the low price of the life of the other. a story from the East. nothing more.

The title has no relation to the plot of this Croation film. I would guess that something was lost in the translation.

Anyway, Rene Bitorajac plays Dr. Danko Babic, an arrogant gynecologist who is completely amoral. He manipulates patients records to cover up mistakes, and treats nurses working with him as sex objects. He becomes involved with some shady underworld types who run a strip club which doubles as a whore house. The owner is in need of a medical man to perform abortions on the girls who become pregnant at an alarming rate and Danko becomes his go to guy for the operations. A cautionary note here, as a brief dog fighting scene with Pit Bulls may put some viewers off, as will the frequent and nasty pregnancy termination shots, shown in graphic detail. This is not for the squeamish. Bitorajac is excellent as the evil doctor, surrounded by the mundane and equally corrupt physicians and police officials on the take. At one point, he bribes the pathologist to change his report to clear his obvious responsibility for a patients death; so much for the Hippocratic oath. There is no happy ending, and although it is thoroughly depressing and without any humor at all, I found it to be a realistic portrayal of human nature, with a final message of looking out for number one.

Cannibal Vegetarian is the second movie that was created based on the book of well-known Croatian writer Ivo Balenovic. The first movie, which was created based on the books Metastases earned the title of one of the best modern Croatian movies.

I expected this movie will repeat or at least closer to such a success, but I remained disappointed. The story is fragmented, with no real flow. The main actor Rene Bitorajac, does not look convincing in the role of problematic of real ending, a climax. The only positive surprise in the movie is soundtrack. All in all, watchable if you are interested in Croatian movies. The book is far better.

As a doctor, I can tell that Obstetrics is absolutely one of the most "challenging" specialities. This film proves it. It's hard to sit through, but once you do, it feels good idk. The story is well written and it has that sick atmosphere and disturbing throughout the entire runtime. The ending scene was so hard to watch that even my stomach started growling.

Synopsis: Meet Dr. Danko Babic. An up and coming gynecologist with a taste for the finer things in life. Though he is among the most respected in his field, he still keeps friends in low places. Babic likes blow, he likes women, and most of all he likes money. When a local mob boss who is a friend of a friend makes Babic an offer he can't refuse to "take care of" his strippers and hookers, suddenly the good doctor finds himself stumbling into a world from which there is no safe escape.