Pretty
Village, Pretty Flame is a Serbian film based on actual events set during the
Bosnian War. It focuses primarily on the relationship between Milan and Halil,
two friends that become divided by war.
All of the character's
backstory is told through flashback so there is quite a bit of jumping around
in time, which means lots of jump cuts. It feels pretty chaotic at first
because of all the ground it needs to cover but after our main characters get
stuck in the cave and the story gets a bit more focused, the timing is really
great. For example, when someone gets shot and at the moment they touch the
ground we cut to a similar moment, which tells the viewer we are in a flashback
now without having to use a weird filter or constantly having text on the
screen that denotes the year. And once we get to know them better it becomes
even more apparent when we are. It isn't always clear exactly why the director
and editor chose the shots they did but often the juxtiposition of one event in
that characters life to another can be very telling.
The overall sound design was pretty good; fired guns,
shattering glass, exploding grenades and on down to the more subtle things like
the click of Lisa's camera and the sloshing of liquid in the coke bottle were
as crisp and present as you would expect. I just had one problem with it
though. Sounds of physical contact and stuff like the thumb being cut by the
scissors sounded really cartoony and out of place, exaggerated slaps and yells
that pulled me out of the film's gritty tone and made me feel like I was
watching an incredibly grim three stooges skit for just a moment.
I’m not always a fan of anti-war films something about them
has often rubbed me the wrong way. Some movies I don’t mind, like Apocalypse
Now or Good Morning Vietnam. Pretty Village Pretty Flame, however, did not
restore my faith in the anti-war category.
The director was trying to show us that war is hell. I think
that was even a quote in the movie (way to be subtle). There was plenty of
blood, guns, and fire to go around and lots of symbolism. So much so I often
found my self disoriented in a labyrinth of symbols. Even after watching it a
second time I felt just as mystified.
There were very few, very brief and fleeting moments that I think I
understood what the director was trying to convince me.
One of the many elements and symbols that the director tries
to illustrate is the psychology of war. There is a scene in the movie when the
men of the unit start drinking Milan’s pee because they are getting dehydrated.
This is probably my favorite scene in the movie because good instance of how
they must do things that are distasteful in order to survive. This is also
their greatest moment of unity in the group were they all have to drink one
man’s pee. I understood that scene, I felt it, and there was a universal
language there. It was the expression of “this is such an extreme event and all
I can do is laugh”.
Then
he kills it again. The way the director told the story made little to no sense.
In the movie we see young Milan, Milan in hospital, Milan before the war, Milan
during the war and so on. Every time I felt like I was starting to connect with
a character or understand the movie further I was literally drawn way to
another scene. Maybe the biggest problem for me is that this was a symbolism
movie is for a people in another land, speaking another language of which I
have no connection to expect a page from a history book. I was like stranger in
a strange land.
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