re: Defense of A Serbian Film
I have now seen this film around five times, now both in it's cut and original version. Before I get a backlash accusing me of seeing this illegally; I was accepted onto Raindance's film festival's uncut presentation last year. I have since defended the film as an important piece of art. A Serbian Film is undoubtedly one of the toughest movie experiences in years, yet the film being accused of simply torture porn is totally invalid. The movie uses aesthetics of the genre (this is true), yet throughout the entire film we have a proper narrative, characters we (as the audience) care about which makes the film's second half all the more problematic and disturbing.
Film’s such as Murder Set Pieces, Grotesque, Hostel and even the later Saw films have little to no plot. They are simply just about presenting the spectacle of violence in a pornographic manner. In this movie, violence is presented in a truly uncompromising manner which goes to such lengths to denounce violence outright. Yes, the film contains very taboo breaking and controversial content, however nothing is simply placed there just for shock value.
Everything presented in A Serbian Film is an allegorical piece of filmmaking. In the director’s statement (which can be found at www.aserbianfilm.co.uk) Srdjan Spasojevic states: This film serves not as a documentary depiction of our reality, but as an X-ray, a diagnosis of the malformed and disease-driven soul of our society. That is the reason for showing the almost unshowable scenes in the film in such unrestrained and direct manner. The violation, humiliation and ultimate degradation of our being must be felt and experienced by every viewer so that it cannot be ignored. Those scenes figure and communicate as literal drawings of our disfigured and raped emotions. You may call it torture-porn, but to us, it is our life.
This point has been debatable since it's release; but I feel it becomes clear when we see the hierarchy figure of Vulmir (The film's Antagonist) and the treatment of Milos (the film’s Protagonist) which presents deeply political undertones. It also becomes clear when you judge the entire film as a whole and not on individual scenes; the argument the filmmaker is making about the treatment of his citizens in his country. The problem with the BBFC decision to cut the film by four minutes has created a bigger notoriety surrounding the film. Countless online debates about the film’s content and portrayal of violence have created more attention towards this film.
Efficiently the film would have been seen by few people, those that were interested in extreme cinema, foreign films and horror. Now all this attention has created a storm of illegal downloads of people not supporting a cut version but seeing the film in its original state. Because of this development, people are taking it upon themselves to watch the film simply just because of it’s more controversial moments. This has lead to reaction videos, similar in the tradition to internet videos such as: 2 Girls 1 Cup; which i have to say frankly disturbs me. I’m not disturbed that people are seeing the film, but people are ignoring the film as a whole and just forcing themselves to see the New Born Porn sequence and it’s nihilistic conclusion.
The recent developments with Blockbusters will undoubtably secure that this film will never get an uncut certification in this country. It’s true that average film goers would be appalled by the film and they should. This is one of the film’s intentions. The violence is never meant to be fun. The film is profound in many areas. Its not a masterpiece but is an important film. The questions we must ask ourselves: Were you aware of the atrocities that occurred in Serbia? Did you even acknowledge that Serbia existed? The film has put the spotlight on Serbia to an international audience. If you explore Serbian art it resembles what the film portrays. Nothing is new, just that this representation of Serbia has provoked the strongest reaction yet.
I have now seen this film around five times, now both in it's cut and original version. Before I get a backlash accusing me of seeing this illegally; I was accepted onto Raindance's film festival's uncut presentation last year. I have since defended the film as an important piece of art. A Serbian Film is undoubtedly one of the toughest movie experiences in years, yet the film being accused of simply torture porn is totally invalid. The movie uses aesthetics of the genre (this is true), yet throughout the entire film we have a proper narrative, characters we (as the audience) care about which makes the film's second half all the more problematic and disturbing.
Film’s such as Murder Set Pieces, Grotesque, Hostel and even the later Saw films have little to no plot. They are simply just about presenting the spectacle of violence in a pornographic manner. In this movie, violence is presented in a truly uncompromising manner which goes to such lengths to denounce violence outright. Yes, the film contains very taboo breaking and controversial content, however nothing is simply placed there just for shock value.
Everything presented in A Serbian Film is an allegorical piece of filmmaking. In the director’s statement (which can be found at www.aserbianfilm.co.uk) Srdjan Spasojevic states: This film serves not as a documentary depiction of our reality, but as an X-ray, a diagnosis of the malformed and disease-driven soul of our society. That is the reason for showing the almost unshowable scenes in the film in such unrestrained and direct manner. The violation, humiliation and ultimate degradation of our being must be felt and experienced by every viewer so that it cannot be ignored. Those scenes figure and communicate as literal drawings of our disfigured and raped emotions. You may call it torture-porn, but to us, it is our life.
This point has been debatable since it's release; but I feel it becomes clear when we see the hierarchy figure of Vulmir (The film's Antagonist) and the treatment of Milos (the film’s Protagonist) which presents deeply political undertones. It also becomes clear when you judge the entire film as a whole and not on individual scenes; the argument the filmmaker is making about the treatment of his citizens in his country. The problem with the BBFC decision to cut the film by four minutes has created a bigger notoriety surrounding the film. Countless online debates about the film’s content and portrayal of violence have created more attention towards this film.
Efficiently the film would have been seen by few people, those that were interested in extreme cinema, foreign films and horror. Now all this attention has created a storm of illegal downloads of people not supporting a cut version but seeing the film in its original state. Because of this development, people are taking it upon themselves to watch the film simply just because of it’s more controversial moments. This has lead to reaction videos, similar in the tradition to internet videos such as: 2 Girls 1 Cup; which i have to say frankly disturbs me. I’m not disturbed that people are seeing the film, but people are ignoring the film as a whole and just forcing themselves to see the New Born Porn sequence and it’s nihilistic conclusion.
The recent developments with Blockbusters will undoubtably secure that this film will never get an uncut certification in this country. It’s true that average film goers would be appalled by the film and they should. This is one of the film’s intentions. The violence is never meant to be fun. The film is profound in many areas. Its not a masterpiece but is an important film. The questions we must ask ourselves: Were you aware of the atrocities that occurred in Serbia? Did you even acknowledge that Serbia existed? The film has put the spotlight on Serbia to an international audience. If you explore Serbian art it resembles what the film portrays. Nothing is new, just that this representation of Serbia has provoked the strongest reaction yet.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
