A Serbian Film (2010)

Time and time again there is a movie floating around that is reputated to be the sickest and most depraved film of all time, the film that tops everything you have seen before and will leave you behind devasted and shaken to the core. In many occasions these rumors vanish into thin air. Often times it is just a marketing thing to increase the curiosity for potential viewers.

Not quite so in the case of "A Serbian Film". 2010's scandal flick was one of the most controversially talked about films in recent years all over the net. The reason is not just its drastically graphic potrayal of sex and violence but also the involvement of children in it.

The film is about the porn star Milos who is offered a very mysterious role in a new film by an infamous director called Vukmir. Milos is not given any detail about the project. Cluelessly he shows up on set not knowing about the insane things upcoming. But only short time after the first day of shooting things start to go out of control and become more and more bizarre. Soon Milos finds himself in some sort of snuff movie.

The film takes a look deep into the depraved souls not of its characters but of its director and its screenwriter. They project the most disgusting and repulsive fantasies of violence and bloodshed onto the screen that you can imagine. "A Serbian Film" is probably one of the most extreme piece of celluloid that you can find. At least it is high up on the list.

What is surprising is that for this kind of film the craftsmanship is really well done hardly has any flaws. The cinematography is often striking. Some of the low key images are very well composed. Also the actors do quite a good job for most of the time. More importantly I have to mention that the film not only consists endless sequences  of carnage but actually tells a story - disregarding the quality of its content for a moment. It builds up gradually and most of the extremely brutal scenes are shown in the second half of the picture. This way the film really achieves to create a nighmarish atmosphere for most of the time.

Some of the dialog, however, is unintentionally funny and also some of the more over-the-top violent scenes are not serving the dark mood of the picture all too well and there are moments when the film is at risk to cross the line to ridiculousness. Still it fully succeeds to shock and disturb.

Many people raised the question if there is any reason for a movie like this to exist and that's quite legitimate. At least one of the scenes is taking it too far in my opinion especially considering that the  film lacks any substance and relevance. Even though the director proclaimed this as a social/political allegory (in the vein of Passolini's "120 days of sodom") that is meant to show the suffering and the oppression of the serbian people, it really takes much fantasy and good will to find some (profound) criticism here watching these unbelieveably explicit and sick acts of (sexual) violence.

Some critics praise the film as a courageous masterpiece. But to me it rather looks like a film whose only intention was to break any taboo imaginable and become the biggest scandal of the decade. In that regard the film succeeded famously.

The grand finale - that last 15 minutes or so - will stick in your mind for a long time. Even though the "surprise" is quite predictable it is not less effective and devastating. Those who managed to get this far will probably be relieved when the movie is finally over and maybe also be reminded of Michael Haneke's "Funny Games" when the blustering soundtrack is playing over the credits. Just like that movie "A Serbian Film" has to deal with charges of voyeurism and sensationalism ... among all the others.

In many countries this title won't find a label to be released. I have not checked that but it certainly is banned in some countries already. Or - like in germany - there is a cut version floating around with over 13 minutes and almost all cruelty removed from it.

"A Serbian Film" is a well executed, insane orgy of terror without depth but quite a lot of visceral power. Only very hard-boiled horror fans may find it to be of any interest. As sick as it is you have to admit that as a very extreme torture-porn film - and it embraces and redefines that term - "A Serbian film" actually works.