Pretty Village, Pretty Flame
Encyclopedia
Pretty Village, Pretty Flame (Serbian Cyrillic alphabet
Serbian Cyrillic alphabet
The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script for the Serbian language, developed in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two standard modern alphabets used to write the Serbian language, the other being Latin...

: Лепа села лепо горе, literally translated as "Beautiful villages burn beautifully") is a 1996 Yugoslavian film directed by Srđan Dragojević that gave uniquely bleak yet darkly humorous account of the Bosnian War.

It is considered a modern classic of Serbian cinema. Almost 800,000 people went to see the movie in cinemas across Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

. This equates to approximately 8% of the total country's population at the time of the film's release.

Summary

The plot, inspired by real life events that took place in the opening stages of the Bosnian War
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...

, tells a story about small group of Serbian
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

 soldiers trapped in a tunnel by a Muslim force. The film's screenplay is based on an article written by Vanja Bulić for Duga magazine. Through flashbacks that describe the pre-war lives of each trapped soldier, the film describes life in former Yugoslavia and tries to give a view as to why former neighbours and friends turned on each other.

Plot

The movie's main protagonist is Milan (Dragan Bjelogrlić), a Bosnian Serb. At the beginning of the war in Bosnia, his life in his little village with his best friend Halil (Nikola Pejaković
Nikola Pejaković
- Kolja i Smak Bijelog Dugmeta :The songs Pejaković had composed during the mid-1980s were released on his debut album Mama, nemoj plakati , released by System Records in 2001. Influenced by diverse range genres and crossing them with witty and a bit vulgar lyrics, Pejaković described his musical...

), a Muslim , is generally quiet and reminiscent of that of a normal lifestyle in the countryside. He gradually notices that Bosniaks whom he knew in his village are slowly but surely moving out.

During the conflict, Milan joins the Bosnian Serb Army
Army of Republika Srpska
The Army of Republika Srpska ; Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian Vojska Republike Srpske ) also referred to as the Bosnian Serb Army, was the military of today's Republika Srpska which was then the "Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina", a self-proclaimed state within the internationally recognized...

 and is attached to a squad that includes:
  • Velja (Nikola Kojo
    Nikola Kojo
    Nikola Kojo is a Serbian actor.Kojo grew up in front of the camera and acted in his first movie at the age of 11. Since then he has been featured in more than 45 movies and TV series, including "Mi nismo anđeli" being one of his most notable films...

    ): A career criminal and thief from Belgrade
    Belgrade
    Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

     who did most of his "work" in Germany
    Germany
    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

     in the late 1980s and early 1990s. On a visit home, he pretended to be his younger brother, knowing full well he'd be taken to the frontlines, when authorities came to pick up his draft-dodging sibling. He provides the film's title. After the squad set a village alight, they watch it burn and he says: "Pretty villages are pretty when they burn. Ugly villages stay ugly, even when they burn." (in Serbian, Lepa sela lepo gore, a ružna sela ostaju ružna, čak i kad gore.)

  • Petar "Professor" (Dragan Maksimović): A Bosnian Serb school teacher from Banja Luka
    Banja Luka
    -History:The name "Banja Luka" was first mentioned in a document dated February 6, 1494, but Banja Luka's history dates back to ancient times. There is a substantial evidence of the Roman presence in the region during the first few centuries A.D., including an old fort "Kastel" in the centre of...

     before the war, he seems to have nostalgic
    Nostalgia
    The term nostalgia describes a yearning for the past, often in idealized form.The word is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of , meaning "returning home", a Homeric word, and , meaning "pain, ache"...

     feelings towards Yugoslavia. While some of the others loot houses, he is more interested in literature. He intermittently reads from a burnt diary he found in one of the villages the squad passed through.

  • Brzi (Speedy) (Zoran Cvijanović
    Zoran Cvijanovic
    Zoran Cvijanović is a Serbian actor and producer who played supporting, yet memorable roles in many Serbian and former Yugoslav films made in last quarter of the 20th century....

    ): An unstable Belgrade junkie
    Substance abuse
    A substance-related disorder is an umbrella term used to describe several different conditions associated with several different substances .A substance related disorder is a condition in which an individual uses or abuses a...

     who tried to commit suicide
    Suicide
    Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

     by jumping off a highway overpass only to land in a Yugoslav People's Army
    Yugoslav People's Army
    The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...

     (JNA) truck headed towards the Croatia
    Croatia
    Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

    n border. He is a son of ex-officer of JNA and he joined army to try to rehabilitate
    Drug rehabilitation
    Drug rehabilitation is a term for the processes of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and so-called street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines...

     himself. At the frontlines he drives an ambulance truck and is the only one who is able to speak English.

  • Viljuška (Fork) (Milorad Mandić): An outright Chetnik from a rural area in central Serbia
    Central Serbia
    Central Serbia , also referred to as Serbia proper , was the region of Serbia from 1945 to 2009. It included central parts of Serbia outside of the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina. The region of Central Serbia was not an administrative division of Serbia as such; it was under the...

     who is interested in keeping Laza's head on his shoulders. He is nicknamed Fork
    Fork
    As a piece of cutlery or kitchenware, a fork is a tool consisting of a handle with several narrow tines on one end. The fork, as an eating utensil, has been a feature primarily of the West, whereas in East Asia chopsticks have been more prevalent...

     because he carries a fork around his neck symbolising Serbian sophistication in the 14th century and compares Serbian kings to English and German kings at the time, who (he says) ate using their hands. He is very cheerful in the beginning until Laza dies.

  • Laza (Dragan Petrović): Laza is Viljuška's best man who was so outraged by a news-report in Serbia about atrocities perpetrated against Serbs that he walked to the nearest highway and hitchhiked
    Hitchhiking
    Hitchhiking is a means of transportation that is gained by asking people, usually strangers, for a ride in their automobile or other road vehicle to travel a distance that may either be short or long...

     to the nearest recruitment centre. Unaware that he had been picked up by a Turkish
    Turkey
    Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

     truck driver who lived in Sweeden as a "guest worker", he explained that "never again shall a German
    Germans
    The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

    or Turk
    Turkish people
    Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...

    set foot here".

  • Marko (Marko Kovijanić): A young man who appears to be about 18 years old. He is often foolish and desperately seeking the approval of his squad-members.

  • Gvozden (Bata Živojinović
    Bata Živojinovic
    Velimir "Bata" Živojinović is a Serbian actor and politician.-Biography:Živojinović was born in the town of Koraćica, Mladenovac, Serbia , under the Kosmaj mountain...

    ): The squad's captain, and a professionally trained JNA officer. He is a loyalist to Yugoslavia and its ideals. He has past history with the Bosniak squad's leader as they both served for years in the JNA.

  • Liza (Lisa Moncure): Liza is a reporter for an American news network, who snuck into Speedy's medical truck before he drove it into the tunnel.


Milan is generally dissatisfied with the way the war is being conducted and is disturbed by the fact that profiteers are looting and burning his best friend Halil's property. Milan shoots three of the profiteers
War profiteering
A war profiteer is any person or organization that profits from warfare or by selling weapons and other goods to parties at war. The term has strong negative connotations. General profiteering may also occur in peace time.-International arms dealers:...

, wounding them and is shocked that the nearby kafana
Kafana
Kafana , kafeana , kavana are terms used in the former Yugoslav countries for a distinct type of local bistro which primarily serves alcoholic beverages and coffee , and which sometimes also has a live band.The concept of a social gathering place for men to drink...

 owner (at whose kafana he used to drink with Halil) is with them. Milan is later told by the kafana owner that his mother has been killed by Bosniaks belonging to Halil's squad.

As the movie progresses, Milan and his squad are ambushed and encircled by a group of Bosniak fighters. Seeing that there is no way around the issue, Milan decides to tell his surviving squad mates about a tunnel he was scared of entering as a child. The squad enters the tunnel and engages in a firefights with the Bosniak fighters. They are joined by Brzi and Liza.

The squad stays inside the cave for a week and slowly but surely the soldiers snap, one by one they try to leave the tunnel and they are killed or wounded for it. Meanwhile, each of them have flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...

s as to what brought each of them into this situation. After their force has been whittled down substantially, Gvozden drives the truck out of the tunnel; the truck explodes killing both Gvozden and the Muslim fighters, and opening the way out.

The movie's climax is when Milan and Halil meet outside at the tunnel's exit and openly ask each other a few important questions. Halil asks who burned down his shop while Milan asks who killed his mother; both men deny each of the actions. Halil is then killed by a Serbian artillery strike.

Milan, Petar and Brzi escape and all three are sent to the Belgrade Military Hospital, where Brzi dies.

Structure

Although the film has highly non-linear structure, most consider it easy to follow. The story is told in several time periods, which cut back and forth:
  • 1971 - The prologue is purportedly a newsreel
    Newsreel
    A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...

    , showing the opening of the Tunnel of Brotherhood and Unity on 27 June 1971.
  • 1980 - Milan and Halil are young boys, and this thread shows their childhood friendship. It is set somewhere in Bosnia, we assume somewhere in the Drina
    Drina
    The Drina is a 346 kilometer long river, which forms most of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Alps which belongs to the Danube river watershed...

     valley (probably near Goražde
    Goražde
    Goražde , is a city and municipality in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Drina river. It is located between Foča, Sokolac and Višegrad, and is administratively part of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the center of the Bosnian Podrinje Canton.-Location:Goražde is situated on the...

     due to GŽ letters on license plates) .
  • Late 1980s/early 1990s - Milan and Halil set up an auto-repair business.
  • 1992 - Referenced in the film as "the first day of the war", this probably takes place on March 2, as the kafana owner reads about the shooting of Nikola Gardović in Sarajevo (which occurred on March 1 and is considered by Serbs to mark the start of the war) in the Večernje novosti
    Vecernje novosti
    Večernje novosti is a Belgrade-based daily newspaper. Founded in 1953, it quickly grew into a high-circulation daily.It first appeared on stands on October 16, 1953 edited by Slobodan Glumac who set the newspaper's tone for years to come...

    newspaper.
  • 1994 - The main thrust of the film, in which the squad is pinned down in the tunnel.
  • 1994 (the "present") - Milan and the Professor, as well as an unconscious Speedy, are in a military hospital in Belgrade.


In addition, there is a prologue and epilogue:
  • Epilogue - 21st July, 1999. This is also supposedly a newsreel, showing the re-opening of the reconstructed tunnel under the new name of the Tunnel of Peace.


Finally, there is a scene outside the main narrative of the film in which the young Milan and Halil enter the tunnel to find out it is full of dead bodies. Two of those bodies are themselves (from 80s/90s), symbolizing their fates sealed in this tunnel.

Reception and reaction

The film won accolades for direction, acting and brutally realistic portrayal of the war in former Yugoslavia. It was also the first Serbian film to show the Serbian side of the conflict involved in atrocities and ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....

 - the title of the film is an ironic comment on the protagonists' activities in a Bosnian village.

However, the film also caused some controversy, mostly among Bosniaks
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...

 and Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...

, many of whom complained about its alleged pro-Serb bias
Bias
Bias is an inclination to present or hold a partial perspective at the expense of alternatives. Bias can come in many forms.-In judgement and decision making:...

 and unequal treatment of warring sides, citing differing depictions of atrocities. According to this view, Bosnian Serb atrocities are shown with ironic flair, while Bosniak atrocities are shown with utter solemnity. Conversely, the film is considered controversial by some Bosnian Serbs for its supposedly anti-Serb bias. It should also be noted that Srđan Dragojević shot some scenes on location in the Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...

 (Serb inhabited entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

, at the time still governed by Radovan Karadžić
Radovan Karadžic
Radovan Karadžić is a former Bosnian Serb politician. He is detained in the United Nations Detention Unit of Scheveningen, accused of war crimes committed against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats during the Siege of Sarajevo, as well as ordering the Srebrenica massacre.Educated as a...

), often in places that were former battlefields.

The reaction to the film and its various aspects continues long after its theatrical and festival run ended. It is frequently used by various public figures as springboard for political, ethnic, and historical discussions and open issues that continue to plague the Balkans region.

In early 2000s, while promoting his movie No Man's Land
No Man's Land (2001 film)
No Man's Land is a 2001 tragic war drama that is set in the midst of the Bosnian war. The film is a parable and marked the debut of Bosnian writer and director Danis Tanović...

, Muslim director and former soldier in the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was the military force of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina established by the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992 following the outbreak of the Bosnian War...

 during the war Danis Tanović
Danis Tanovic
Danis Tanović is a Bosnian film director and screenwriter.Tanović is best known for having directed and written the script for the 2001 Bosnian movie No Man's Land which won an Academy Award. He was a member of the jury at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.-Biography:Danis Tanović was born in the...

 called Pretty Village, Pretty Flame "well made, but ethically problematic due to its shameful portrayal of the war in Bosnia".

Then during summer 2009, more than thirteen years after the film's release, outspoken Muslim actor, nationalist politician, and current Sarajevo Canton
Sarajevo Canton
The Sarajevo Canton is a canton of the Federation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The capital is Sarajevo.The Canton is basically the metro area of the city it is named after that is inside the Federation...

 Minister of Culture Emir Hadžihafizbegović
Emir Hadžihafizbegovic
Emir Hadžihafizbegović is a famous Bosnian actor.-Biography:Hadžihafizbegović got his diploma in acting at the Academy of Arts in Sarajevo in 1986. He received the Golden Arena for best actor at the Pula Film Festival and award for Best actor at the Durban International Film Festival...

 gave an interview at the 2009 Pula Film Festival
Pula Film Festival
The Pula Film Festival is the oldest Croatian film festival which is held annually in a Roman amphitheater known as the Pula arena since 1954. The festival is usually held in the summer, in July or August....

 in which he went after Dragojević and his crew by calling them "morbid and blasphemous" over the fact that some of the scenes in Pretty Village, Pretty Flame were shot on location in Višegrad
Višegrad
Višegrad is a town and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is part of the Republika Srpska entity. It is on the river Drina, located on the road from Goražde and Ustiprača towards Užice, Serbia.-History:...

, Republika Srpska while the war was still going on in some parts of Bosnia. Hadžihafizbegović further denounced Dragojević and the film's production crew by drawing a connection between them and local Višegrad paramilitary warlord Milan Lukić
Milan Lukic
Milan Lukić is a former head of the paramilitary group known as White Eagles who was found guilty by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in July 2009 of crimes against humanity and violations of war customs committed in the Višegrad municipality of Bosnia and...

 (not a member of the regular Army of Republika Srpska
Army of Republika Srpska
The Army of Republika Srpska ; Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian Vojska Republike Srpske ) also referred to as the Bosnian Serb Army, was the military of today's Republika Srpska which was then the "Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina", a self-proclaimed state within the internationally recognized...

) who was later indicted and convicted by the Hague tribunal to life in prison for war crimes. The basis Hadžihafizbegović provided for such a strong accusation was the fact that in the film's closing credits, the filmmakers listed the Army of Republika Srpska among the institutions that helped the production: "As far as I'm concerned, by thanking the Republika Srpska Army in closing credits they're thanking Milan Lukić and his brethren".

Awards

"Lepa sela lepo gore" garnered six wins and one nomination:
  • Won European Jury Award at the Festival d'Angers (1997)
  • Won Telcipro Award at the Festival d'Angers (1997)
  • Won Distinguished Award of Merit at the Lauderdale International Film Festival (1996)
  • Won Bronze Horse at the Stockholm International Film Festival
    Stockholm International Film Festival
    The Stockholm International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Stockholm, Sweden. It was launched in 1990 and has been held every year in the second half of November...

     (1996)
  • Won International Jury Award at the São Paulo International Film Festival
    São Paulo International Film Festival
    The São Paulo International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in São Paulo, Brazil since 1976. In 2004 Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami was a member of the jury.-International Jury Award:*2001: The New Country ...

     (1996)
  • Won Audience Award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival (1996)
  • Nominated for Golden Alexander at the Thessaloniki Film Festival (1996)

See also

  • 1996 in film
    1996 in film
    Major releases this year included Scream, Independence Day, Fargo, Trainspotting, The English Patient, Twister, Mars Attacks!, Jerry Maguire and a version of Evita starring Madonna.-Events:...

  • Cinema of Yugoslavia
    Cinema of Yugoslavia
    -SFR Yugoslavia:The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had an internationally acclaimed film industry.Prominent male actors included Danilo Bata Stojković, Ljuba Tadić, Bekim Fehmiu, Fabijan Šovagović, Mustafa Nadarević, Bata Živojinović, Boris Dvornik, Ljubiša Samardžić, Dragan Nikolić and...

  • List of Yugoslavian films, 1990-2003

External links

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