A Serbian film
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | A Serbian film |
| Original title | Srpski Film / Српски филм |
 | |
| Country of production | Serbia |
| original language | Serbian |
| Publishing year | 2010 |
| length | Original version: 105 minutes Shortened version: 86 minutes |
| Age rating |
FSK 18 (abridged version) Original version, indexed, unchecked |
| Rod | |
| Director | Srdjan Spasojević |
| script |
Aleksandar Radivojevic Srdjan Spasojevic |
| production |
Srdjan Spasojević Dragoljub Vojnov |
| music | Sky Wikluh |
| camera | Nemanja Jovanov |
| cut | Darko Simić |
| occupation | |
| |
A Serbian Film (Original title: Srpski Film ) is a Serbian psychological thriller by the debut director Srdjan Spasojević from 2010 . The film is considered highly controversial because of its extreme and explicitly shown violence.
action
Miloš is happily married to Marija and has a young son named Petar. His brother Marko, who earns his living as a corrupt Serbian police officer, envies Miloš for his harmonious family life and is secretly in love with Marija. Since Miloš does not receive a pension as a former porn actor , his savings are becoming increasingly scarce. Porn actress Lejla then passes on Miloš to the self-proclaimed art producer Vukmir, who does not publish his films, but sells them privately for large sums of money.
Because of his ability to get an erection even without visual stimuli, Miloš is known in the scene as "The Filthy Stud", which is why Vukmir is particularly interested in his cast. Before Miloš enters Vukmir's villa, he meets an elderly bald man who is accompanied by two bodyguards. In the villa, Miloš does not receive any further information from Vukmir about the film content, which is why concerns arise. But these dissolve after he is offered a large sum of money to participate.
On the first day of shooting, Miloš is taken to an orphanage , where a scene for the film is to be shot. Using an earphone, Miloš is given instructions on what to do according to the script. At first it seems that it is a conventional porn film, until a woman disguised as a nurse, who was previously beaten by another man, is supposed to orally satisfy Miloš in front of a young girl named Jeca. Two monitors can be seen in his field of vision; one shows Jeca while she is eating an ice cream, the other as she puts makeup on her lips. Reluctantly and under threat of violence, he is forced to hit the woman and perform the desired act.
After Miloš asked his brother Marko to get more information about Vukmir, he learned that he was a trained psychologist and a producer of children's programs. Vukmir also served as a state security officer. Miloš visits Vukmir at his villa to re-discuss the contract. Miloš indicates that he does not agree that children are used in the film. Vukmir then tries to explain the artistic aspects to Miloš and plays him a video in which a baby is raped immediately after birth. Vukmir explains that this is a new genre called newborn porn .
Disgusted, Miloš flees in his car, but is approached and seduced by Vukmir's doctor at a traffic light. Miloš wakes up in his apartment with injuries to his face and body. He has a blackout and initially has no connected memories for the past three days. In addition, he cannot find his family or reach his brother by phone, which is why he is increasingly concerned. Miloš gains entry to the Vukmir villa, which appears to be empty. There he takes the film recordings in the form of magnetic tapes and a camcorder. When looking at the tapes, Miloš realizes that he has been drugged (sexual enhancer for bulls) for the past few days. While intoxicated with drugs, he raped a handcuffed woman on the director's instructions and cut off her head with a machete . A second video shows how he himself is raped by a bodyguard of Vukmir. Another shows an argument between Lejla and Vukmir. Lejla does not agree with what is happening to Miloš. Shortly afterwards, Lejla can be seen tied up in chains in a room, her teeth had previously been forcibly pulled. She is forced to deepthroat by a masked man and then suffocated to death by holding her nose.
For another scene, Miloš is led to a house in which an older woman apparently lives with Jeca. The elderly woman presents herself as the grandmother of Jeca and praises Miloš for the murder of her granddaughter's mother. She then asks Miloš to sleep with Jeca for traditional reasons. Although Jeca is apparently ready and Miloš is drugged, he refuses. Miloš escapes by jumping through a closed window. Later, Miloš is in an alley where he watches two men whistle after an attractive young woman. Miloš is caught masturbating by the two men. He is then beaten by both men until Raša shows up and kills the two men. Miloš is brought into a large hall where another scene is to be shot. The scene is titled "A Serbian Family" by the director of the snuff film. Miloš is drugged with a syringe by Vukmir's doctor. To fight back, Miloš rams a syringe into her throat. He escapes into the great hall. In the middle of the hall there is a bed where two victims, an adult woman and a child, lie in blankets. First, Miloš raped the woman as instructed, then he violated the child. Meanwhile, a masked man appears who apparently killed Lejla and abuses the adult woman. The previously covered faces are revealed one by one by Vukmir and Miloš discovers that it is his own son he is abusing, while the other rapist is his own brother Marko and has deliberately abused Miloš's wife. Meanwhile the doctor comes into the hall, who is clearly heavily drugged. She is bleeding profusely from her vagina after using a steel pipe as a dildo and collapses in front of those present.
Miloš angrily attacks Vukmir and smashes his head several times on the ground, causing his skull to burst. Marija attacks Marko and beats him to death with a sculpture. Miloš is attacked by several bodyguards; he can take a pistol from one of them. He shoots the attackers and finally rams his erect penis into the empty eye socket of a semi-blind bodyguard. He then returns home with his wife and son. Marked by what they experienced, Miloš and his wife notice that they will not be able to continue their lives. The family goes to bed together. Miloš puts his arm around his wife and kills his wife, his son and himself with a single shot. The last scene shows the bald older man from the beginning of the film, along with a cameraman and an actor, entering the house and unmistakably that He gave orders, starting with Miloš's son, to attack the corpses.
production
Five years before the release, the later screenwriters met to think about a possible joint film project for the first time, with the ambitious plan of creating something independent. So the genre fans of American cinema of the 70s decided to produce an independent film.
However, the prevailing in Serbia difficult conditions for the realization of such film projects meant that it was a low budget - Independent film had to act production measured off eventually financed entirely by Srdjan Spasojevic. Accordingly, when creating the script , the shooting schedule and the selection of the locations, the best possible shooting sets had to be taken into account, even for low budget conditions. No CGI was used for the effects . Despite the very low production budget, Srdjan Todorović and Sergej Trifunović were able to cast two actors who are among the most famous in the country.
In the post-production phase, after a two-month revision period in the laboratory, efforts were made to archive the film in Germany on 35 mm . However, this attempt failed due to legal concerns about the film content on the part of the authorities. All production documents had to be handed over in order to avoid a criminal offense . In the second attempt, the film could then be developed in Budapest , Hungary , but only on condition that a contract was signed that confirms that the film producers take full responsibility for the film content.
publication
The film was shown for the first time on April 15, 2010 at the South by Southwest Filmfest in Austin ( Texas , USA ).
In Germany, for example, the film was shown at the Hamburg Film Festival and in Austria at the / slash film festival. In advance, an age rating was heavily discussed by the FSK . Due to the representations shown, criminal concerns were expressed with regard to §184a and §184b StGB. Ultimately, on June 30, 2011, a version shortened by more than 13 minutes was published with a release from 18 years. All objectionable elements were removed.
In the UK , the BBFC asked for around four minutes to be cut for ages 18 and over. This British version was indexed in Germany in August 2011 . (Indexing - List B: media which, in the opinion of the Federal Inspectorate, are to be classified as questionable under criminal law and would therefore be subject to the distribution bans under the Criminal Code [StGB]). Since 2015, the unabridged version is no longer considered criminally relevant in Germany, the film was moved to List A, the youth ban thus remained in force.
reception
The film is judged highly controversial because of the scenes of violence shown, especially against children and women. Strong criticism of the usefulness of the scene of the abuse of a newborn baby, for example, and of the violence, especially in the last 15 minutes of the film. As a result, for example, the film has been named the film with the most censored sequences in the UK in 16 years; in Australia, the film was not rated by the Office of Film and Literature Classification and may therefore not be sold there.
Here is an excerpt from different quotes in German-speaking countries:
"A film like a punch, an outburst, a cry for help."
"... as a metaphor for a society that abuses its children from birth, sends them into senseless wars, robs them of any future and leaves them in a state of oppression and dull nationalism."
"A violent film that plays with" last taboos "and flirts with" real "torture porn. Solidly staged and played respectably, it stands above the majority of the cheaply produced works of this subgenre, but that doesn't change the fact that the film, despite all the socially critical "messages" that it has put forward, only serves to satisfy the lower spectator instincts at fairground level. "
The reviews also explicitly point out that the subject has already been described in detail by the Marquis de Sade . Based on the title of the film and the director's statement “This is a diary about the abuse we suffered in Serbia by our government. It's about the monolithic power of the leaders and their hypnotized vicarious agents. ”Serbian history is used as a possible subject for interpretation. This intention is underpinned by an interview with the filmmakers at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival .
In a more nuanced criticism, however, it says: a film that comes from a country that has seen decades of conflict, corruption, civil disobedience and ethnic unrest makes it seem appealing to interpret more into it than the film is actually capable of demonstrate. It says as much about Serbia as hostel does about America , which is comparatively little, but nothing compared to what the film title suggests.
Web links
- A Serbian Film at the Internet Movie Database (English)
- A Serbian Film at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- A Serbian Film in the online film database
Individual evidence
- ^ Certificate of Release for A Serbian Film . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , May 2011 (PDF; test number: 127 585 V).
- ↑ Interview that thematizes the making of the film (English page) ( Memento from August 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ SXSW announces the list of participating films (English page)
- ↑ Filmfest Hamburg ( Memento from February 11, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ Moviepilot.de - too hard for Germany?
- ↑ a b Schnittberichte.com
- ^ Il Gobbo: Serbian Film, A. In: schnittberichte.com . July 4, 2011, accessed on July 4, 2011 : “Since June 30, 2011, the FSK-approved version of Cult-Movies / Marketing-Film can be found in German video stores. And in contrast to the British version, only 9 cuts were made. This, however, with the hedge trimmer, so extensive is the destruction. With over 13 minutes of censorship cuts, all offensive elements were almost completely erased, so that only a fragment of the film is left. The finale in particular was almost completely removed, so that the unsuspecting video viewer could lose track of everything. "
- ↑ A Serbian Film - BBFC demands almost 4 minutes of censorship (Schnittberichte.com)
- ↑ Indexing August 2011 (Schnittberichte.com)
- ↑ Imbor Ed: A Serbian film in 2 versions from list B to A moved. schnittberichte.com from April 30, 2015
- ↑ A Serbian Film is the most edited film in 16 years (English page) ; BBC
- ↑ A Serbian Film: Banned in Australia (English page)
- ^ Cit. Filmcasino Wien ( Memento from December 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Cit. Filmtipps.at
- ^ A Serbian Film in the Lexicon of International Films
- ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Link not available)
- ^ Cit. Filmstarts.de
- ↑ Interview video with Spasojević and Radivojević as part of the BIFFF (English page)
- ↑ "A Serbian Film": Giving the term "torture porn" a meaning (English page) ( Memento of August 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
