A Serbian Film

This is more of a warning then a review.

As Im a liker of horror films and controversy the cat in me was curious enough to see this film foolishly believing good reviews on imdb. I strongly advise avoiding this film, in my opinion something like this should never have been allowed to be released anywhere.

The problem is that the film is well made, shot and acted and thats why in some places it has got away with the tag of "art"

The premise of the movie is that a retired porn star who is getting short of money gets offered a part for a lot of cash. The problem is he is not allowed to know what is going to happen in the movie.

After about 45 minutes the movie decends into the most horrific things you can imagine. I mean depraved paedophilia, violent raping of children, totally unwatchable I couldnt fast forward certian scenes fast enough.

3 days later Im having nasty flashbacks and almost feeling sick about it. So I decided to make a post advising avoidance! The guys who made this should be in prison....

Noffles

You may as well of put an advert up for the poxy thing.. I watched it after reading your comments... why would anyone want to make such a film... awful... I can't describe how much I hated this...

Hande hoche!

Interesting ,thanks for the warning. Will probably still watch it in the end.

Curry Addict

its just another crap attempt to shock, totally unrealistic bull**** and a waste of time. some crap director trying to get noticed by trying to be controversial.
if u want to watch the likes of someone stabbing someone in the neck with his cock this films for u :rolleyes:

WadeTalon

The Director has said that the message the film is trying to portrait is that Serbian people in general are treated like meat, and during the war a human life be it a child or an adult meant nothing, and that this hasn't changed.

I have seen the film, and yes it is very well made, It is very very disturbing and shocking. I will never ever watch it again, but If this is the message its trying to portrait , I think it has succeeded, but i cant say I agree with it.

Paddy Samurai

Anyone else heard about this one?.
Althought I prefer to see the full uncut version of any film I see, i'm not sure about this one...................time will tell.

.....likens watching a film to “having my soul raped”. Meanwhile, over at the similarly inclined Fear.net, Scott Weinberg describes the same picture as “one of the most disgusting, unpleasant, and angry films I’ve ever seen . . . I believe it’s [also] one of the most legitimately fascinating films I’ve ever seen . . . And I will never watch it again. Ever The cause of the gentlemen’s distress is A Serbian Film , an extremely powerful and violent political allegory featuring images of murder, rape, incest, necrophilia and paedophilia......................................... .................................................. The film was granted an 18 certificate by the British Board of Film Classification, but not before four minutes and 11 seconds were edited out of the final theatrical cut; the board cited “elements of sexual violence that tend to eroticise or endorse sexual violence” to justify making A Serbian Film the most censored UK release since 1994........”It is not scheduled for a cinema release in the Republic of Ireland, but will be issued on DVD in January. At the time of writing, staff at the Irish Film Classification Office had yet to view the film.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2010/1209/1224285096711.html

krudler

Its awful, and I dont mean awful in a violent way, just plain awful. Hilariously bad in places like the scene where

the main character stabs a guy in the eye with his erect dick and kills him

watch and laugh your ass off at how bad it is, but dont expect to feel nice about it, newborn baby rape is a new low for shock cinema.

Duggy747

It's a bizzare and disgusting film, the director likes himself for having "coined" the term "newborn porn" where

A guy helps a woman deliver her baby and then immediately rapes it

It's "supposed" to be an analogy of how the Serbian government treats it's citizens..................I don't need to see paedophilia to tell me that.

Controversial garbage and daft as the hills.

latenia

The uncut version is available "from the usual sources." As I said previously about 'Martyrs', this is just torture-porn by the numbers with a thin veneer of political/philisophical noodling to excuse showing

babies being raped

. I didn't find it shocking apart from one or two minor "ah Jaysus" moments because there's nothing left to shock me in cinema.

Otis Driftwood

I found it over hyped and over rated.I heard about it over a year ago when it was still in production.The usual teasers were coming out about it being the most shocking film ever made and yadda yadda yadda.Sat and watched it a while ago and while I "enjoyed" it,I felt it tried much too hard to be shocking.

The effects work is one of the saving graces of this movie though with some frankly stunning set pieces but apart from that I found it all a bit meh.

I will watch it again soon but so not expect to change my assessment much.

Ive watched Cannibal Holocaust alot and it still shocks me with every viewing,this however just tried too hard.

amacachi

The only Serbian film I want to see is the one that was being made in that episode of Extras.

bnt

The IT article refers to the review on BloodyDisgusting.com, which you can read here. If that's the response it gets from a professional horror movie reviewer, I think I'll pass.

To describe the horrors in this film to a niche movie-going public that will either embrace the film's extremity (or run screaming to the nearest cliff and hurl their bodies off it in protest) is futile. If what I have written here is enough to turn your feelings of wonder into a burning desire to watch this monstrosity, then perhaps I haven't been clear enough. You don't want to see Serbian Film. You just think you do. You've been far too desensitized. You've laughed at people that fainted in theaters, snickered at legends of grown men and women who walked out of movie premieres and puked on lobby floors. You think you've seen it all and after this, you'll wish you had.

strobe

I actually only watched this last night. Seen a review talking about how the Serbian government have launched an investigation to see if it broke any laws and how it was supposed to be the most extreme and disturbing film of all time bal bla bla. So curiosity got the best of me.

Meh, not that shocking at all. Maybe I've been desensitised (which shouldn't be the case as I don't tend to watch 'shock movies') or something but while the scenes like

the newborn being raped or the guy being tricked into raping his son

should be deeply disturbing, they are just too blunt and stupid to be anything shocking or horrifying. There is certainly an argument to make that it's offensive but that's as far as I'd go. Wouldn't see any reason to recommend it to anyone. As for the plot, acting etc, it's what you would expect from most 'shock movies', it is very poor. If you are looking for something really out there in terms of shock value or over the top disturbingness(sc) which should be the films only draw, there are plenty of movies that go far beyond this, and do it much better.

Meh.

Otis Driftwood

I actually thought it was a pretty interesting idea for a movie,its execution just left a lot to be desired.

I hadnt heard about the Serb government investigating it however it wouldnt surprise me.There is currently a legal thing going on in Canada where Canadian authorities are trying to prosecute an independant movie maker on obscenity charges for 2 short films he made and had free to view on his site.The site was shut down and the films removed a few months ago.They are 2 fairly visceral pieces of work but arent as bad as some would have us believe.It will be a sad day for film if the charges stick.

Selected

WadeTalon wrote: »

The Director has said that the message the film is trying to portrait is that Serbian people in general are treated like meat, and during the war a human life be it a child or an adult meant nothing, and that this hasn't changed.

I have seen the film, and yes it is very well made, It is very very disturbing and shocking. I will never ever watch it again, but If this is the message its trying to portrait , I think it has succeeded, but i cant say I agree with it.

Whether one agrees with it or not - it works.

Curry Addict wrote: »

if u want to watch the likes of someone stabbing someone in the neck with his cock this films for u :rolleyes:

I think it was his eye socket - a reference to a Balkan curse.

Link to IrishTimes review - http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2010/1209/1224285096711.html

A Balkan version of 'Irreversible'.

demolitionman

i watched it cause i wanted to be shocked.
alas, i wasnt.
it wasnt even that gruesome.
just a stupid attempt to get noticed by putting sick stuff in a film.
i wouldnt waste your time. nowhere near as good as i thought it was gonna be.
although i have to disagree with OP, why should it not have been made? Censorship is something that should not exist in 2010!!!

You must have watched an edited version!

If raping a new born baby isnt grounds for censorship I dont know what is!

Sad Professor

I've merged this thread with another thread from the Film Reviews forum. All the posts over there were getting deleted for not being reviews, even the OP wasn't a review. So rather than let the whole thread go to waste I've moved it over here.

Although from the sounds of it this film is probably best forgotten. But since people obviously want to discuss it they can do so here.

krudler

Deleted User wrote: »

You must have watched an edited version!

If raping a new born baby isnt grounds for censorship I dont know what is!

nothing is grounds for censorship, if you dont agree with something dont watch it

The Waltzing Consumer

krudler wrote: »

nothing is grounds for censorship, if you dont agree with something dont watch it

So snuff films? You may be a bit sick if you think nothing is worth any type of censorship. I know it sounds so liberated and artsy to say no censorship and I am sure a few people swooned at seeing that comment, but back in the real world, sometimes things get censored, sometimes they right, sometimes they wrong.

Saying nothing is grounds for censorship is like saying nothing is grounds for any sort of editing.

Jonny7

The Waltzing Consumer wrote: »

So snuff films? You may be a bit sick if you think nothing is worth any type of censorship. I know it sounds so liberated and artsy to say no censorship and I am sure a few people swooned at seeing that comment, but back in the real world, sometimes things get censored, sometimes they right, sometimes they wrong.

Saying nothing is grounds for censorship is like saying nothing is grounds for any sort of editing.

Killing someone is murder and is illegal.

Why should any films that don't carry out any crimes be censored?

Should it carry relevant warnings? yes, should it be censored? in my opinion, no. I cannot find any reason why it should be.

Cantona's Collars

Watched this the other night,the movie has no redeeming features and some scenes will provoke outrage.It would have passed me by except for seeing the thread here about it.Won't watch it again,rubbish with an aim to shock the audience but instead turns them completely against this movie.Graphic scenes of incest,rape,paedophilia and torture are not entertainment.
You couldn't recommend this movie to your friends as you'd soon lose a few of them after they viewed it.Not much shocks me these days but I nearly turned this off especially during the scene

where he is having sex with his son.

Paparazzo

krudler wrote: »

Its awful, and I dont mean awful in a violent way, just plain awful. Hilariously bad in places like the scene where

the main character stabs a guy in the eye with his erect dick and kills him

watch and laugh your ass off at how bad it is, but dont expect to feel nice about it, newborn baby rape is a new low for shock cinema.

That sounds like a scene in a b movie that's so bad it's funny. I wonder if the police regularly investigate such crimes?

TerrorFirmer

Interesting film to say the least. Entirely watchable with the exception of the baby scene, that was rather horrific, though, the whole point of the movie is to showcase the reality of the world we live in I suppose.

The scene with the penis-eye interaction was farcical, not sure why they chose to include that, totally ridiculed the entire film thus far.

Worth a watch actually, though I would recommend the cut version, film is interesting enough with the need for the infamously graphic scenes.

losthorizon

krudler wrote: »

nothing is grounds for censorship, if you dont agree with something dont watch it

:rolleyes: So filming a baby being raped would be ok then?

Raekwon

Saw this the other night but not sure if it was the uncut version or not What parts were cut out of the film?

Overall it was a well made film but some scenes were so OTT that I couldn't take it seriously.

TerrorFirmer

Raekwon wrote: »

Saw this the other night but not sure if it was the uncut version or not What parts were cut out of the film?

Overall it was a well made film but some scenes were so OTT that I couldn't take it seriously.

If you saw the extremely distressing baby rape scene, that's the original version. Not sure what else is cut out, as there's over 4 minutes cut and they only cut shots, rather then scenes, so the content itself couldn't have been more then 2 minutes, so I'd be interested in hearing what else is cut. There's also a very graphic scene involving the rape of a very young boy, I can only assume that was cut to some extent, if not entirely. BBFC doesn't allow that sort of stuff involving children through at all. Frankly, I think the 'cut' version would probably be a better film as far as conventional enjoyment (if you could ever say you enjoyed this film) of viewing a film goes - that scene with the baby was repulsive and I feel that whatever its reasoning or justification in the intentions of the director, it drags the film down to a subject level most people aren't willing to go.

Raekwon

Yeah the baby rape scene was in the version I saw along with the incestuous father & son scene but even though they were horrific scenes they were more left to your own imagine then actually visually disturbing.

I still think the most disturbing scenes of a sexual nature in main steam films were in the brutally violent tunnel rape scene in Irreversible and the extraordinary graphic and even more violent gang rape scene in Boise Moi (where you actually see full on penetration).

TerrorFirmer

Raekwon wrote: »

Yeah the baby rape scene was in the version I saw along with the incestuous father & son scene but even though they were horrific scenes they were more left to your own imagine then actually visually disturbing.

I still think the most disturbing scenes of a sexual nature in main steam films were in the brutally violent tunnel rape scene in Irreversible and the extraordinary graphic and even more violent gang rape scene in Boise Moi (where you actually see full on penetration).

Are you sure? I wouldn't call a scene where a man delivers a baby in graphic detail and then proceeds to lower the screaming baby onto his penis 'left to the imagination'. The only thing you don't see is the penis itself; the vagaina, the rather bloody albeit natural delivery, the lowering of the baby amid its increasingly pitched screams....The scene with the son also features the father rather pounding his son, to the extent that you see blood fly out of his buttocks. Again, not exactly left to the imagination. I find it hard to believe anyone could call that 'left to the imagination rather then actually visually disturbing'.

Irreversible is a great film with a few haunting scenes, though Baise Moi is laughable tripe. Half the actors ,including the lead, were porn stars, the production values were dreadful....would barely even consider it a film, total sleaze, would consider it more pretenious porn then anything.

dark crystal

demolitionman wrote: »

i watched it cause i wanted to be shocked.
alas, i wasnt.
it wasnt even that gruesome.
just a stupid attempt to get noticed by putting sick stuff in a film.
i wouldnt waste your time. nowhere near as good as i thought it was gonna be.
although i have to disagree with OP, why should it not have been made? Censorship is something that should not exist in 2010!!!

Honestly, I hope I never get so desensitised to violence that the depiction of a newborn baby being raped wouldn't shock me. In fact, it would make me physically sick.

I remember watching the rape and assault scene in Irreversible and had to switch off because I could feel myself wanting to vomit. That, to me, is not entertainment.

But perhaps that is just the point this particular film is making....Perhaps if this film doesn't shock you (as the director clearly intends the viewer to be), then, as a society, we have become way too desensitised, in which case, there is definitely a case to be made for censorship relating to certain subject matter.
Sexual violence towards children, imo, crosses that line.

Yes, such things happen in the real world, but reducing it to pure salaciousness cheapens and degrades the seriousness of the crime. Don't merely use it as a tool to shock and grab headlines - at least have something intelligent or meaningful to say about something so serious.

Raekwon

Don't really suppose this needs spoiler tags but I'll use them anyway just incase somebody here hasn't seen this film yet.

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Are you sure? I wouldn't call a scene where a man delivers a baby in graphic detail and then proceeds to lower the screaming baby onto his penis 'left to the imagination'. The only thing you don't see is the penis itself; the vagaina, the rather bloody albeit natural delivery, the lowering of the baby amid its increasingly pitched screams....The scene with the son also features the father rather pounding his son, to the extent that you see blood fly out of his buttocks. Again, not exactly left to the imagination. I find it hard to believe anyone could call that 'left to the imagination rather then actually visually disturbing'.

Irreversible is a great film with a few haunting scenes, though Baise Moi is laughable tripe. Half the actors ,including the lead, were porn stars, the production values were dreadful....would barely even consider it a film, total sleaze, would consider it more pretenious porn then anything.

Well in the baby rape scene you only see

the man from the mid-back up and you can of course hear the baby crying. When I first saw it I actually didn't know what was happening until he turned to the camera, smiling and it then became obvious that he was trusting his hips from his head moment and the fact that the director was shouting "New Born Porn" in the back ground.

But I'm not arguing with you, it was an extremely uncomfortable scene to watch but my point is that even though it is blatantly obvious what is going on in the scene you don't actually see anything happening per say. If you actually seen a shot of the new born's face screaming or even a quick angled view (with a prop baby of course) then that would have taken it to a whole other level of depravity..........but it didn't, it made you picture a baby being raped in your head as you didn't see it happening on the screen (thankfully!!!)

As for the father son scene,

I didn't see any blood but I do remember the son foaming from the mouth. But again you only see a close up of the fathers face and a close up of the sons face. The actor is obviously dry humping something so it is left to the audience to piece it together, even though it is again blatantly obvious what is happening in the scene.

As for Boise Moi, yes it is a trashy film with a couple of former porn stars but to dismiss it as being "barely a film" is totally ridiculous! It had a host of top production companies as well as some world wide distributors associated with it and it even did the festival circuit before it went on general release. Okay it was panned and right so, but the scene at the start where

one of the girls is viciously beaten and raped was shocking. As I said before you do see full penetration just like in a porn film but the actually furious nature of the punches thrown were so realistic that it made me wince. Not to mention the head-butt the broke the girls nose, that was quite simply nauseating and overall made it probably one of the most graphic scenes I have ever seen. Period.

TerrorFirmer

I think you must definitely have seen the cut version then. The

full version shows the man from almost the knee up, shows him lowering his underwear and the baby placed down in that area, screaming as he does so - there's no left to the imagination, it literally happens on screen, and unfortunately, yes you can see the babies face as it's being placed in said area. The scene with the father son, a graphic scene in which the fathers buttocks are seen thrusting against his sons buttocks, with a considerable amount of blood present running down the sons buttocks/legs. The foaming of the mouth only happens after the blanket has been removed, and up until that point there are some considerably violent scenes of rape.

Ally Dick

I think some people over exaggarate how horrific this film is. I watched it on YouTube of all places the other day. It's up there in the uncut version with English subtitles !

Regarding the most shocking scenes, I didn't find them that bad because -

I thought the baby looked obviously like a cabbage patch doll so I wasn't shocked. The other bit where he puts his penis into the bloke's eye socket was laughable too, as his penis looked more like a broom handle than flesh

Overall I wasn't that shocked. I thought it was a very good horror film

P.s. This film didn't entertain me but I understood the points that it was trying to make

Da Shins Kelly

It's a load of bollocks, and the director claiming that it's really a metaphor for some deeper commentary on Serbian society sounds pretty disingenuous. It's novelty, boundary-pushing shock horror and nothing more. Serbia absolutely has a fascinating and incredibly tumultuous history, but if a filmmaker is going to claim that a movie like this is really an allegory for all that, then really he should probably go and take up a different profession. It's one of the thinnest and downright worst attempts at metaphor I've ever seen.

Ally Dick

Oh here's Scummy Holmes. Ask him about his beloved Mr Ferguson's retirement

Da Shins Kelly

Ally Dick wrote: »

Oh here's Scummy Holmes. Ask him about his beloved Mr Ferguson's retirement