Monday 6 September 2010

A Serbian Film


I did think more than twice about doing a review for this film, as I wasn’t sure that I wanted anyone to know I had watched it. I can unquestionably announce that this is truly the most shocking and disturbing film I have ever watched. I had read all the hype surrounding this film but was very sceptical as I have been caught out by hype about “shocking” films before. Murder-Set-Pieces, August Underground, Slaughtered Vomit Dolls you name it I’ve been left disappointed by it. After watching this however I was left utterly speechless. The first thing that stuck me was how wonderinfully shot and made this film is. No grimy low budget movie on display here. The look of this film could effortlessly pass as a Hollywood blockbuster. Another thing that stood out was the time taken to fully flesh out the main character Milos. You Love actually have some feeing for him and care about him and his family. Milos is a former porn star, who is offered a crazy amount of money to perform in a porn film produced and directed by shady Vukmir. Only catch is that he doesn’t know what type of porn he is shooting until he turns up on the day. What follows takes the torture porn genre to a whole new level. I’ve seen films with scenes of extreme sexual violence, rape and necrophilia before but what made me really perturbed watching this was the aspects’ of paedophilia and underage sex. I doubt I would have been as shocked if it wasn’t for these scenes. There is a scene that involves a newborn baby that outdoes the outrageous baby scene in D'Amato's Anthropophagus. (I didn’t think that would be possible) When Milos refuses to perform in Vukmir’s sick film. We see him next waking up at home beaten, with his wife and son missing. He then backtracks in a drug induced daze to figure out what happened. And through a series of flashbacks he (and we) wittiness all the unimaginable things he did. The ending of this film is truly one of the most soul destroying and sickest in cinematic history. I can’t honestly recommend this film to anyone. By using paedophilia the filmmakers have really pushed the envelope and surely broken the last taboo of what is acceptable in mainstream cinema. I know it was only done to shock (and it worked) but I can only hope that it doesn’t become acceptable for other films to follow and indeed try and out do.