In the Land of Blood and Honey

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 !

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.

Written by Markus Robinson, Edited by Nicole I. Ashland Before I begin,

I would like to preface this review by saying that I am in no way an expert on the Bosnian War. So, before I receive any hate mail from angry Bosnian's or Serbian's about how I am just a stupid American who is criticizing events that I didn't live through, please realize that I am not criticizing Bosnian's or Serbians or war tactics or cultural differences. My job is to criticize FILMS!!! Angelina Jolie hates Serbians, there I said it! I am joking of course, she loves all races. Angelina Jolie (Salt) receives her first writing and feature film directing credits here in "In the Land of Blood and Honey"; a film that is surprisingly almost entirely in Serbian and Bosnian. There has been some controversy (at least there was for a few months) about this actually being an idea Jolie stole and called her own. But after all is said and done, whether or not she came up with the original idea will be the least controversial aspect to arise from this film. Starring Zana Marjanovic and Goran Kostic, it is not the acting which drags this film down, it is the storyline Jolie chooses to focus on instead of a straight forward war story. Chronicling the systematic encampment, rape and slaughter of the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) ethnic group during the Bosnian War sounds like some very compelling and powerful material, and "In the Land of Blood and Honey" would have been compelling and powerful, if that was what the movie was about. Instead we get a love story, set in the Bosian War between a high ranking male Bosnian Serb soldier (Kostic) named Danijel and his female Bosniak prisoner (Marjanovic) named Ajla, and a very unsatisfying love story at that. In fact the few instances when the story turns its focus from Ajla to her sister, who has not been captured and is attempting to build a resistance against the Serbs, the film becomes far more interesting and gritty. So much so, that an argument could be made about how Ajla's sister would have made a more realistic and compelling focus for this full length feature film than Ajla herself. Furthermore, without Ajla's sister's subplot, "In the Land of Blood and Honey" is a war film that only lightly dabbles in the brutality of war for less than a third of the movie and then it's back to the flimsy love story. In the end, Jolie attempts to address the political, brutal and cultural elements that make war so complex, but spends far, far, far too much time telling the remedial Romeo and Juliet love story between Danijel and Ajla. I am not against love stories by any means, but to have an average love story set during a fairly recent war, where genocide, rape, and political cover-ups took place, the love story aspect tends to take away (or dumb down) every other important point the film is attempting to make. This is kind of like having a hardcore love story in "Schindler's List". It just doesn't work.

What will undoubtedly anger mass audiences the most: Because of the way Jolie structures her film, the tone inevitably does come off as one sided in the same way the aforementioned "Schindler's List" does. Which in and of itself isn't bad, i.e. Nazi's are horrible people. But because "In the Land of Blood and Honey" is a far less developed film, the "all Serbian's (except for one) are inherently ruthless and cruel" mentality this film encourages, comes off as unnaturally skewed especially to those (like me) who are unfamiliar with the in-depth events of the Bosnian War. Now I am not saying that the Serbs in this film, who are shown ethnically cleansing a mass group of Muslims, were not horrible people, BUT the way this movie presents an entire race (The Serbs) as irrational and blood-thirsty, could be perceived as quite one sided. And for that reason, I can see many audiences finding this the most off-putting aspect of "In the Land of Blood and Honey". But then again, I am not a critic of wars.

Final Thought: I will give Jolie some credit here for manufacturing some brilliant shots (mostly the war scenes) that work to show her talent behind a camera. But much as Jolie tries, it seems as if she knows more about the logistics of a love story than about creating a compelling war film. Not to say that "In the Land of Blood and Honey" isn't a watchable effort, and does minimally redeem itself in the final two scenes of the film, BUT how this film was nominated for a Golden Globe only proves that the Hollywood Foreign Press will do anything to hang out with big stars.

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This is a well intentioned film about the Bosnian war but unfortunately it doesn't work that well. Despite the powerful message it wants to deliver it doesn't draw one into the story.

Firstly the good points. Angelina Jolie makes a good attempt and achieves a good on location feel. The battle and destruction scenes are quite effective - realistic not exaggerated. It is interesting to see the war from 2 sides with lead characters on both sides of the conflict.

The main problem is in the story and screenplay itself. Maybe Jolie was taking on too much by both directing and writing. There have been more main stream movies about the Balkan conflict eg Flowers for Sarajevo and Behind Enemy Lines. I understand she was trying to make a very Un Hollywood movie but maybe a bit of a more traditional dramatic narrative would have been more compelling. Continuity in the story is lacking as the story is broken up between the love and scenes of fighting and other brutalities. The romance is unconvincing. Needed some serious editing.

The main actress is good but the main actor is a bit cold. Their scenes together are awkward and painful to watch.

Overall feels schizophrenic, disjointed and self indulgent.

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).