Konterr Brilliant and touching

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

deckokojiobecava Lepa Sela Lepo Gore (1996) is probably the Serbian director's finest movie.Skilfully made story of the life and death of a few people in the few days of the civil war in Bosnia,and days (and years) that preceded it all. In the vein of classic Serbian black humour-filled dramas, and also tracking in the steps of the classic war (anti war) movies, this movie has it all really - good story (based on a true experience of one group of Serbian soldiers during the war) and a tight and slick photography and editing.An honest and entertaining war drama from start to finish, and ,as mentioned,this film nicely puts together feel of all the classic war films with almost QTs-early90s-films feel for this hard and thrilling ride into the hell of war. Good watch.8/10

petarmatic When I saw this film I cried so much. Wounds of the war of the former Yugoslavia were still so strong in my heart. I remembered my childhood in Sarajevo, just as the principal actors remembered their childhood.I think plot is very interesting, but pulls a little bit too much on the Serbian side, which is natural, it is after all a Serbian film. Reality was a little bit different. But still this films describes war in the former Yugoslavia well. I liked the dialog, jokes and action.Acting is excellent, I feel sorry for the actors, for I understand that they were fed only by hamburgers during the entire shoot.All in all if you are interested in the former Yugoslavia and the most stupid war in the history of the humanity, this is a film for you.

Theo Robertson I first saw Srdan Dragojevic PRETTY VILLAGE PRETTY FLAME just over ten years ago on channel 4 and instantly thought it was the best film to feature the conflict in the former Yugoslavia . This might be down to the fact that the Serbs are shown as being both perpetrators and victims of atrocity , something the Western press wasn't to keen on saying while the conflict was going on in the early 1990s . The media reporting was rather simplistic with the Bosniaks being totally victims and the Serbs being total bad guys so it's good seeing a film from the Serb perspective , especially one where the world isn't viewed in black and white The film is told through a fractured storyline and the story cuts backwards and forwards between the characters when they were children living in a Socialist Yugoslavia , then it cuts to the war itself when they're trapped in a tunnel then forward to a short time when the survivors are lying maimed in a hospital . It might sound complicated but the story is very easy to follow . SLUMDOG MILLIONIRE also had a fractured storyline but that was extremely complex structure , maybe too complex for its own good where as here everything is easy to follow You don't need to be well informed in Yugoslav history to appreciate the film fully but it does help , especially the terms for the warring factions . Croats are now known as " Krauts " and " Ustase " ( The Croation fascist movement set up by the Nazis during the war ) , the Bosnian Muslims are now known as " Turks " while the Serbs consider themselves " Chetniks " Serbian nationalist from the second world war . Setting much of the story in a dilapidated tunnel built in the socialist era and " The Tunnel Of Brotherhood And Unity " is a metaphor for the failings of Yugoslavia falling apart . It is an ironic metaphor and the film oozes scathing irony such as a bunch of peace protesters standing outside the hospital promising the injured soldiers that " No one will lie to you again " a take on Slobodan Milisosevic infamous conversation to a Serb protester battered by Muslim police in Kosovo in 1987 that " No one will beat you again " Some people may complain that it's pro Serb but as a neutral observer it can be disputed since no one is shown as being terribly nice in a civil war . The Serbs burn down villages ( And in one brief scene another human being ) while the Muslims use a Serb rape victim as a proxy bomb . Since much of the story is told from inside the tunnel there's a feeling PRETTY VILLAGE PRETTY FLAME could have easily have worked as a stage play than a film and this is a problem I had with NO MANS LAND but this movie is still slightly more cinematic . I wouldn't claim right out that it's the best film featuring the war because SAVIOR does have a slightly more emotional and human edge to it , but PRETTY VILLAGE PRETTY FLAME is still a good anti-war film that is both subtle and ironic

bob_marli Don't let the low marks take you away from this masterpiece - look at stars assignment, and you will get the picture.If you expect black and white war movie, forget it. For me, this is by far most objective movie about civil war(s) in ex-Yugoslavia, better then Bosnian (good) "No man's land" and Macedonian (masterpiece) "Before the rain". At the beginning, you will see Serbs burning villages (that explain title of movie) and killing people, but, from middle to end, you will see completely same behavior done by Bosnian Muslims. Brilliance of this movie is because it shows you why this war was so bloody and why it is so hard to have peace and reconciliation after all. Every killing, every murder, has story behind, and movie gather them all. You have pure communist (Bata Zivojinovic) against his fellow officer, you have two best friends (Nikola Bjelogrlic - Bosnian Serb, Nikola Pejakovic - Bosnian Muslim) against each other, you have urban freaks, you have junkies, you have educated teacher, you have everything you need. Every one of them has his own reason to be there, but at the end, they all end completely empty, with only pure hate inside.I suppose that some things from movie will be hard to get if you are not from Balkan. For example, Index (that's name of the bend) song that Nikola Kojo sing using gun as mice, was one of the greatest classics in ex-Yu (and lyrics fit the scene perfectly: "And tonight, if she listen, let her hear the pain..."). Some sentences are very hard to translate. For example, in joke scene, when Zoran Cvijanovic (junkie) want to insult Bosnian Muslim soldiers, he tell them joke that begins with "Check this out: Blonde, I mean Fata the Blonde, come to party..." Fata is Muslim name, but is obvious that joke was first intended as joke abound blonde woman, but he upgraded it in the moment. Also, in one scene you can see Serbian skinheads that are kicking traffic table with "Zagreb" (Croatian capital) written on it. Two are holding the table, one is hitting it by the head, and they are all singing "We f*cked Tajci! We f*cked Tajci!" Tajci was ex-Yu singer from Croatia that represented country on Eurovision competition few years before war started. Also, most of the scenes are extremely dark and funny at the same time, but that's Serbian humor in general.Even without this small hints, movie still remain pure classic, to me comparable only with "Apocalypse now" and "Platoon" by its objectivity. It is very fast movie, easy to watch and hard to understand, as Balkan always was. I hope you will enjoy.