In the Land of Blood and Honey

In the Land of Blood and Honey passed almost unnoticed among viewers and critics alike, except in the countries that emerged from the former Yugoslavia, where it created a considerable controversy.

In order to understand this, we'd have to explain the history of Balkans and origins of civil war that led to the collapse of Yugoslavia. But even the executive summary of such a story would take up more time than Angelina Jolie's feature film directorial debut.

So if you ignore historical background and accuracy, this is essentially a bad movie. The script is idiotic and acting mediocre. In order to make the movie more realistic the characters talk in English with local dialect. This might be convincing to the average viewer but sounds stupid to anyone who knows this part of the world.

The only good thing is the atmosphere at the beginning of the conflict, where most of the people believed the war would be over in a matter of weeks.

I find it remarkable that a star like Angelina Jolie devotes her times to humanitarian work and tells the world the untold stories of human suffering. At the same time it is regrettable that such stories are biased according to the current dogma envisioned by international politics and media. According to that, it is crystal clear who the good guys are and they should be absolved from all wrongdoing. On the other hand, for the supposed misdeeds of the bad guys the whole population of their country should be punished until eternity.

This is black-and-white image of the world which, in my opinion, is against the founding principles of UNHCR, where Angelina Jolie holds a distinguished post.

Disappointing, completely and thoroughly. Completely illogical, no connection between scenes, poor acting, strange reactions by the characters. It is completely unclear what message did the plot carry and where was it going? Waste of time, full load of negative emotions! It indeed remains unclear what was the message of this film? How war is terrible thing, or how women suffer the most, or what kind of animals people can be during war times, or to show one more time how love sees now boundaries, or... It seems that screenwriter/director choose topic that is far beyond her directorial capabilities and certainly not something that one should use as plot for director's debut unless he/she knows how to get through with the initial idea on the background of other actions happening...

I am no Serb/Croat/Bosnian... the film tells nothing about events i have encountered whatsoever so i have no interest whatsoever in choosing sides..,I am Just someone who enjoys cinema if it's good.But...this Film held almost nothing pour moi.The script seemed to lead nowhere..i seriously had the feeling a few times that the Director lost all control as to where we where heading.I mean we watch a couple dancing..suddenly there's an explosion en after that there is no reference to that explosion what so ever.When they later meet again, it's as if they never saw each other before.The character studies are awfully weak and stereotypical...why bother witch Photographical composition, well lit scenes etc.when awful things like mass-rape are taking place...I'v read in other reviews ' but it was very beautifully photographed' in this story that's a weakness IMO.In the first part we see the main character,Aijla wearing a lovely yellow coloured sweater..which gives great looking camera color & compositions and atmosphere...but...why? Why still bother which such details to make thing look good on a screen while mass rape and murder is taking place? some script changes are absolutely ridiculous and very far fetched.. another nuisance...the constant very close-up manner of filming the battle scenes..i found that disturbing and a style figure.....and yes.., many people complain about this ,..in this film about the Bosnian carnage the focus lies on the Serbian atrocities during this war..but that's no problem IMO..this film is a story about what happened to a part of the Bosnian victims.The Serbian side of the Bosnian-war story may be told by another film... My main objection is the creative shortcoming. It,to me was a boring movie.and should hold lessons in Filmmaker/vision For Jolie.Next time better !

This film to me looked like a schoolgirls naive-sentiment in viewing the horror's of war. But those horrors were not presented in a horrible way... i presume the situation in reality was hell. We see a very stylish hell..with neat framed scenes , an unbelievable and for me, totally distant sort of 'love' story.., a very weak script to act on it must have been for the actors... , nice clothing and beautiful light.

I was really in awe as to where the story took me..very far-fetched and naive. and the casting ...very much stereo-typing..not a creative choice of cast.Why have them speak American with a Balkan accent? you see this in a lot of films...to make it 'more realistic..but it easily becomes mediocre...It's far better & stronger to have them speak either Serb-Croatian or plain English... I never understand why they do that....and do not break-away from such a film-making dogma.

let this 1th directional misser be a lesson For Jolie !

The story was sequenced without actual lead. No reality was involved, in one scene Aila was brutally raped in next she looks happy and having sex with her loving man etc. There are traces of true but whole story of Bosnian war was completely simplified. This looks like a bad copy of Emir Kusturica movie "Life is a miracle" 2004. Angelina Jolly should look this movie and she wouldn't probably never made this film. At the end it looks like somebody ordered cheap story for daily use. Pity! On the other hands actors did professional job. Scenes and environment are very realistic and authentic. Music is somehow out of story. I think that scenario had potential but with lot of changes and adjustment.

It was just too much to watch this film. Not in sense of what it wants to say but time wise. Wanted to leave around half time but was together with friends so stayed. I recommend you not to bother watching it as it has nothing to offer that a European does not know about the Jugoslavian war. From the perspective of romantic storyline it is also very shallow. The unfortunate thing about this film is that a talented actress tried to make a film with quite a good cast, but none of them will be looking back at it proudly.

Money not too well spent (meaning here the budget of film and the price I paid for the ticket).