Sablja

4 stars are for actor casting selection, acting and production of this drama. Good job on that, everithing else is way off of how it actually happend!

I found everything else as misleading for this history event with not enough information. If there where used only a few information and evidences from autopsies of the victims - this scenario would be a lot more close to the truth with much bigger drama and action impact which would be beneficial for the whole project.

Political background (domestic and foreign) at the time is covered poorly, evan though it was crutial for the assasination and later political path of Serbia.

Djindjic made actual patriotic stance from 2002 by forcing return of serbian troops to Kosovo, supporting Republika Srpska, not willing to support fake and selective international court in Hague by providing them military documentation from war - instead he insisted of indivitual responsibility for each war crime.

Prime minister (Djindjic) and his bodyguard (Veruovic) were shot with 2 different bullet calibers. Role of politician Jovanovic (who was a junkie and connected to the Zemun klan) is misrepresented at a big scale, except for one scene where he has been involved in decision making for catching Dusan Spasojevic.

Fake serbian patriots who are politically active evan today, were not thrilled to see Djindjic doing some actual work because they planned to monetize those topics for their own good not for the good of serbian people (which is cristal clear today in 2024). Also his stance was not aligned with plans of international political agenda's for the Balkans. If you check which companies outside of Serbia are supporting Sablja series - you will see who is controlling this whole process in the last 22 years. Fake patriots and international western politics agenda.

If the film crew wanted to present some truth to Serbian people benefit - they had to do some actual and extra work. They could start from the victim bodyguard Veruovic - but I am sure that wasn't allowed.

As an average viewer I cannot talk about the scenario, or acting or directing or the way the story was led. I can only say that I liked it even though me and my family and friends we were all feeling awfull after every episode.

Actually I cried after each of the episode. Why? This is a tale about my country and our failure as citizens of Serbia to build better society after Milosevics regime.

The assassination of our prime minister and the events that followed it in this series are not described like how it actually happened. (Documentaries exist for those who want credibility).

Sablja is, in fact, used just as a frame to explain and describe what is happening nowdays. The autors are depicting actions that contributed to a condition of an imprisoned state where we all in Serbia live in.

The main characters are carefully selected as a policeman, a criminal in the making (by not so odd consequences) and an ambitious journalist. They are the key for understanding when and how everything went wrong. Now it is up to us to decide what should we do with this sense of injustice and wether we should overlook fake licenses and literally bloody cash.

Despite having some masterful performances (Micanovic, Bandovic, Jasna Djuricic) and few fairly dramatic moments (even to those who've lived through the actual events of the show) - to show doesn't pack a punch is absolutely had to, and by the end of a very short series that feels rather rushed for the scope of the events it tries to portray - goes out with a whimper.

Not only do we have very basic 'get it over with' rendering of some of the most dramatic events in modern Serbian (even European) history and especially in the context of the show's title, but half way through the show we have considerably less believable and infinitely less dramatic fictional events taking over the show instead of actual, even fiction worthy stuff that indeed happened.

Fictional characters, amalgamated ones, were supposed the more relatable bridge into the often intertwined but largely foreign worlds of politics, organised crime, police and secret service etc. Instead, by episode 5 they become the whole focus of the story and actual events fall into the barely noticeable background.

To make things worse, out of three protagonists two are irredeemable and third is absolutely dislikable, insufferable even so watching their stories unfold seems like a chore, the most exciting one - the mafia kid, is the shortest out of three.

It came from the intent not to make universally despised mafia nor the politicians the protagonist of the show - an odd choice considering what the show is about, but it turned out to be bad idea and ended up completely moving the show away from the actual title operation 'Sabre' and into some random and generic fictional conspiracy involving equally fictitious and rather unremarkable characters.

In turn it turns a potent show into a generic mediocre crime drama that is never too bold or unpredictable. Simply put - not what we came here for.

The show faithfully weaves through the chaotic aftermath of assassination of prime minister Djindjic, following several viewpoints - the press, the police, the politicians and the criminals.

The production and camera work are both great and the actors are very convincing, nailing the speaking style of all protagonists and antagonists.

The main problem is the number of characters. There are so many, many names and characters it becomes hard to follow the various motivations and connections. I would say that Sablja requires significant previous knowledge of Serbian 90s and 2000's politics and the vast crime scene that held the country in it's grip to fully understand what's going on.

The show tries to tell it all and it's clearly aiming at the local audience, since they will have no problem identifying who's who. And more importantly, why.

The topic of Djindjic assassination has been explored in length in various documentaries and both the good guys and the bad guys are all household names in Serbia. And this may be what gets foreign viewers confused. Motivations for the assassination are very superficially covered and unless you're a history buff that followed the collapse of Yugoslavia, you'll be hard pressed to understand what is really going on here.

I think a shorter character list would've benefited the show and made it more accessible. But the Djindjic assassination is still a very touchy topic in Serbia and this being the first attempt at making a dramatized tv show about the events, it's understandable that the director didn't want to cut any corners.

This series can be enjoyable if we are not familiar with or don't care much about the real events that took place in Serbia. However, it is disappointing to see that many important political figures who played a direct role in the atrocities depicted in the series are entirely absent. These individuals are still active in Serbian politics today, making their exclusion even more noticeable. This omission raises questions about whether political censorship continues to play a significant role in shaping how these events are portrayed. It feels like an attempt to avoid addressing certain uncomfortable truths about the past. It's unfortunate that such a strong influence seems to persist.