I'll say one thing for Angelina Jolie, when she selected the subject of her writing-directing debut, she didn't pull any punches in selecting the unspeakably brutal subject of the Bosnian War of the 1990s, which forever changed the face of the Balkan region, due in large part to rape being used by the Bosnian Serb Army as a weapon of female submission. Say what you will about the depiction of rape in any film, but Jolie does not flinch when it comes to not only showing it but also to making it painfully clear that any time a man and a woman are in the same room together at any point in this film, the threat of rape is in the room with them. It makes for a sickening but highly effective film-watching experience.
IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY actually begins as a story of new love in pre-war Bosnia, in this case between Serb Danijel (Goran Kostic) and Ajla (Zana Marjanovic), a beautiful Muslim artist, who meet in a club which is subsequently bombed while their seduction is in full swing. Months later, after the ethnic conflict has begun, they meet again after Ajla is rounded up with other women and held captive, essentially as sex slaves for the Serbian soldiers. When Danijel spots her, he immediately lets it be known that she belongs to him. He is the commanding officer and the son of an important general (Rade Serbedszija), so his underlings obey him assuming he wants to only have sex with her. In fact, he protects her, they talk, and he allows her to draw and paint in private. Because of who he is, she is extremely distrustful of him, but eventually she breaks down, and the two have something approximating a relationship, albeit a secret one.
If the whole story seems a tad bit creepy, that's because it is. IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY is a perplexing tale in which we're never quite sure who to empathize with. Of course, we feel for the women being brutalized by the Serbs, but they are almost pushed to the side once this love affair is rekindled. I wanted to identify on some level with Ajla, who really has no choice but to submit to this usually kind man for survival's sake. I think Jolie even wants us to feel for Danijel, who is put in an impossible situation and does his best to protect this woman he cares about. But I felt little doubt that he would have sacrificed her in a heartbeat if it meant not getting caught. But perhaps this shady morality is part of what makes this movie compelling. I actually enjoyed feeling conflicted, and for better or worse, this is a film that one can never accuse of being boring or sentimental.
But other than an authentic history lesson, I'm not exactly sure what we're supposed to learn or take away from IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY. There are vague condemnations of the outside world refusing to intervene, but the United Nations failing to act on behalf of humanitarian needs is nothing new. And by focusing on this single relationship, I think Jolie loses the opportunity to give a true sense of the scope of these atrocities.
There's a scene near the beginning of the film where a woman is pulled out of a lineup of women shortly after they arrive in the building where they are being held. With barely a change of expression, her captor rips her clothes off and rapes her on a table in front of all the other women, who avert their eyes as quickly as they can but can still hear the woman's crying and screams. It's a shocking moment that will forever be burned in my brain, but the emotional and dramatic weight of the scene is never equalled again in the movie, nor does Jolie capitalize on the stark reality she has just forced us to face. I'm not sure I can recommend the film to everyone; it's simply too harsh for even the strongest of us. But there is no denying the Jolie is a fearless filmmaker who with pure guts makes up for what she may lack in cinematic sophistication. I think she'll get better behind the camera if she continues to direct, and IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY does what it sets out to accomplish, even if what it accomplishes is extremely difficult to witness.
