Rane

One of those in UR face, intense, violent pieces that U won't soon forget...tells the story of three youths and how their lives are shaped by their war-torn surroundings...never had any idea that this movie was going to be so RAW...whoa...a cross between "Natural Born Killers" and "Scarface"...

It's the disturbing reality of 2 working class youths in Belgrade: a life of crime. What makes this movie brilliant is that it does not romanticise our young criminals. Around the world, desperate youths turn to crime for survival and status elevation. We have it in South Africa. City of God tried to show it as it is in Brazil, but Rane has managed to capture the heart of it all. Humour and sincerity are at the heart of this film's success. It's powerful.

And the television show in the movie, where they interview criminals as heroes is not fantasy. This TV show was broadcast in reality. It's a weird world, but it is our world. Each moment of this film, you wonder if you should close your eyes, you anticipate something bad. Yet, I was totally inspired afterwards.

This movie leaves bitter taste in my mouth and soul, like nothing else I've ever seen. This is the story of one whole generation, a kids just few years younger then me (1972), who have grown up in time and place where most of values ware lost. This is a story of one entire nation (my people) falling down to the very bottom and staying there until they lost all their hopes. This is the story about the little people behind the war and politics, as never spoken so far, since it never happened to You. And finally, this is the story about the fifteen year old boys who's biggest chance in the life was to become a criminals... and they took that chance, never regarding for it.

This film was my first exposure to life in Serbia – to life on a battlefield – after society and its rules have deteriorated to dust. Right and wrong yield to anarchy and savagery. It reminded me of William Golding's Lord of the Flies. At the end of the day, under the right circumstances, base human behaviors creep out. Morality comes from our environment. When civilization standards fall, values are lost. Citizens will degrade their fellow citizens to improve their own security, doing whatever they have to do. In Wounds, the surviving behavior emerges in the celebrated lifestyle of a gangster.

Pinki's narration is straight from the gut. He's 20 something at the end, and thinks of himself as an old man. The way he and kraut do the things they do, you just know they could get away with it.

It's a well told, thoroughly enjoyable Tour d'anarchy. Gruesome but real. 8.5 / 10.0

Dark, bleak, hopeless, harsh, uncompromising, periodically injected with black humor, but overall quite powerful - Srdjan Dragojevic's follow-up to "Pretty Village, Pretty Flame," weaves a tragic coming of age story in Yugoslav capital Belgrade during the turbulent 90's with all the sharp cultural, social, political references and critique one could ask for. This film actually fits more along the lines of "Cabaret Balkan," except that "Rane" has this gangster twist to it. Among the supporting actors I noticed a lot of familiar faces such as Miki Manojlovic, Dragan Bjelogrlic, Branca Katic, Nikola Kojo, who you may be familiar with from films like "Underground," "Black Cat, White Cat," above mentioned "Pretty Village, Pretty Flame" and "Cabaret Balkan" and such. Definitely recommended if you are interested in Serbia/Yugoslavia or Serbian film making.