Reason Writers at the Movies: Peter Suderman reviews In the Land of Blood and Honey

In today's Washington Times, Reason Associate Editor Peter Suderman reviews In the Land of Blood and Honey, Angelina Jolie's film about love and atrocity in the Bosnian War.

"In the Land of Blood and Honey," directed and co-written by Angelina Jolie, refuses to spare its audience or its characters.

A grim twist on "Romeo and Juliet" set amidst mass rape and ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian war of the early 1990s, the film is part parade of war-crime horrors, part harrowing melodrama. It's hard to watch, but Miss Jolie's vision of social breakdown and affectless barbarism is so powerful that it deserves to be seen.

Whole thing here. 

Comments

[Johncasmic Brooksloop]

Fist?

[Johncasmic Brooksloop]

Now I’m just ashamed.

[Dingo]

Morning Links ate your baby.

[wylie]

Better than a Dingo posting your morning links…

[Nipplemancer]

Land of Rape and Honey

[Dingo]

No.

[sarcasmic]

Nice. Haven’t listened to Ministry in a while.

[Nipplemancer]

Ministry was great until Al Jourgenson stopped doing drugs.

[sarcasmic]

I can’t think of a single entertainer whose work improved with sobriety.

[Nipplemancer]

The only one I can think of is Dave Mustaine, though after he quit drinking he started binging on ego.

[sarcasmic]

I think I’m gonna ding a ding dang my dang along ling long…

[Apatheist]

I’ll probably see this. No Man’s Land was a good Bosnia War film too. Welcome to Sarajevo was ok I guess.

[John]

I liked Miss Sarajevo the documentary about the beauty pageant they had in the middle of the siege.

[Moogle]

Sounds like the feel good hit of the season. Maybe I’ll just rent Kung Fu Panda 2.

[Firedome]

I find it interesting how Serbians have joined the club of acceptably PC-movie villians along with the English, the Germans, American southerners, and Boers.

[John]

It is. The Serbs are assholes. But so are the Croats and Bosnian Muslims and Albanian Kosovars. Everyone over there has blood on their hands. Who is the villain when everyone is?

[NeonCat]

KOCHTOPUS!!!

I’m guessing. Give filmmakers time, there will be sinister libertarian billionaires doing something or other.

[Wholly Holy Cow]

Yeah, see, according to Hollywood logic: portraying Muslims who look like pasty-faced neo hipsters straight outta some Brooklyn coffee shop (aka Serbs, Croatians) is okay.

In fact, if you look at the credits, many swarthy Muslims (“Three Kings” for instance) are played by Hispanics.