In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011) HD online

I am no Serb/Croat/Bosnian... the film tells nothing about events i have encountered whatsoever so i have no interest whatsoever in choosing sides..,I am Just someone who enjoys cinema if it's good.But...this Film held almost nothing pour moi.The script seemed to lead nowhere..i seriously had the feeling a few times that the Director lost all control as to where we where heading.I mean we watch a couple dancing..suddenly there's an explosion en after that there is no reference to that explosion what so ever.When they later meet again, it's as if they never saw each other before.The character studies are awfully weak and stereotypical...why bother witch Photographical composition, well lit scenes etc.when awful things like mass-rape are taking place...I'v read in other reviews ' but it was very beautifully photographed' in this story that's a weakness IMO.In the first part we see the main character,Aijla wearing a lovely yellow coloured sweater..which gives great looking camera color & compositions and atmosphere...but...why? Why still bother which such details to make thing look good on a screen while mass rape and murder is taking place? some script changes are absolutely ridiculous and very far fetched.. another nuisance...the constant very close-up manner of filming the battle scenes..i found that disturbing and a style figure.....and yes.., many people complain about this ,..in this film about the Bosnian carnage the focus lies on the Serbian atrocities during this war..but that's no problem IMO..this film is a story about what happened to a part of the Bosnian victims.The Serbian side of the Bosnian-war story may be told by another film... My main objection is the creative shortcoming. It,to me was a boring movie.and should hold lessons in Filmmaker/vision For Jolie.Next time better !

This film to me looked like a schoolgirls naive-sentiment in viewing the horror's of war. But those horrors were not presented in a horrible way... i presume the situation in reality was hell. We see a very stylish hell..with neat framed scenes , an unbelievable and for me, totally distant sort of 'love' story.., a very weak script to act on it must have been for the actors... , nice clothing and beautiful light.

I was really in awe as to where the story took me..very far-fetched and naive. and the casting ...very much stereo-typing..not a creative choice of cast.Why have them speak American with a Balkan accent? you see this in a lot of films...to make it 'more realistic..but it easily becomes mediocre...It's far better & stronger to have them speak either Serb-Croatian or plain English... I never understand why they do that....and do not break-away from such a film-making dogma.

let this 1th directional misser be a lesson For Jolie !

After watching this movie, all that I can say is that Angelina should not try to direct again. The movie is bad on so many levels, but it's the directing that clearly failed the most.

First, the few positives about the movie. Casting is solid, actors do a decent job even with the awful script they had, but they clearly struggle to act in English. Camera work is solid, every now and then we see an interesting shot.

Now, the negatives that are too many to number. The script is god damn awful, many times it makes no sense at all. It's trying to portray complexities of the main characters, but does it in a horribly cheesy and uninspiring way. Making this kind of war drama that braids the story of few characters with the broader context of war is very hard, but when done successfully, it has resulted in some of the world's most memorable movies. This is not one of them. It starts with a good idea, but then it fails in so many ways. First, it is horribly historically inaccurate and I don't mean just in the way that Serbs are wearing Hungarian throwback uniforms (because Bosnian authorities angered with insulting script have kicked the Angelina's crew out of Bosnia and the movie had to be shot in Hungary) or the wrong color of Yugoslavian passports, or the wrong weaponry which is used the wrong way, or the wrong number of reported war victims mentioned in the movie, etc. Movie manages to go into whole new, almost metaphysical level of historical inaccuracy. For instance, every Serb that we see in the movie (that we know is a Serb) wears a uniform. There is not a single Serb civilian in the whole movie. Even at the start, when two main characters go on a date, the Serb is wearing his police uniform. My god Angelina, do you know that policeman are not allowed to wear uniforms off duty? And what cop would want to go on a date wearing his beat uniform? Somewhere around the half movie finally manages to pick up a little and establish some sort of narrative flow, which is why I won't give it 1/10. But even that little good about it gets ruined by the end. Since this was supposed to be a spin on the old Romeo and Juliette tale, it made a lot of sense to finish the story in the similar way, but no, Angelina opted for the least logical ending possible.

This is a well intentioned film about the Bosnian war but unfortunately it doesn't work that well. Despite the powerful message it wants to deliver it doesn't draw one into the story.

Firstly the good points. Angelina Jolie makes a good attempt and achieves a good on location feel. The battle and destruction scenes are quite effective - realistic not exaggerated. It is interesting to see the war from 2 sides with lead characters on both sides of the conflict.

The main problem is in the story and screenplay itself. Maybe Jolie was taking on too much by both directing and writing. There have been more main stream movies about the Balkan conflict eg Flowers for Sarajevo and Behind Enemy Lines. I understand she was trying to make a very Un Hollywood movie but maybe a bit of a more traditional dramatic narrative would have been more compelling. Continuity in the story is lacking as the story is broken up between the love and scenes of fighting and other brutalities. The romance is unconvincing. Needed some serious editing.

The main actress is good but the main actor is a bit cold. Their scenes together are awkward and painful to watch.

Overall feels schizophrenic, disjointed and self indulgent.

It was just too much to watch this film. Not in sense of what it wants to say but time wise. Wanted to leave around half time but was together with friends so stayed. I recommend you not to bother watching it as it has nothing to offer that a European does not know about the Jugoslavian war. From the perspective of romantic storyline it is also very shallow. The unfortunate thing about this film is that a talented actress tried to make a film with quite a good cast, but none of them will be looking back at it proudly.

Money not too well spent (meaning here the budget of film and the price I paid for the ticket).

I'm honestly quite disappointed in Angelina Jolie. I've seen all of her interviews she has given about In the Land of Blood and Honey, and her main goal was to highlight the human emotions caused by war. If this is was the human emotions she was talking about, then I think she needs to experience a war herself.

First off, the scene in the beginning seemed rather awkward than romantic. Their body language are not in rhythm. They are suppose to be engaging, flirting with their eyes. It almost seems as if they were waiting for the explosion to occur.

When Ajla get chosen to go to the rape camps, there is not enough resistance,panic or emotions between Ajla or her sister. It just seemed too swift. Then when Ajla witnesses a man getting randomly shot on their way to the rape camp, she just seemed to indifferent. I th The only scene that really got me was when Danjiel was watching another Serbian soldier step on Ajla's hand. The way she looks up in pain, but remains silent in order to be obeident was incredible. Then when the scene changes to her hugging Danjiel as her hand is in pain, you can feel the hurt between both Ajla and Danjiel.

The moment where Ajla's sister comes to the house to only find out her baby was thrown out the window was one of the two scenes that was extremely inconsistent with natural emotions. When you see the woman on the floor crying as Ajla's sister asks her where her baby is, you begin to get scared and anticipate what's going to happen next. Then as Ajla's sister slowly approaches the balcony, you heart begins to beat fast! Then as she looks over, you expect to hear a scream somewhere but you don't. She just covers her mouth. Now, to be fair, let's say that she's in a state of shock. So then after she discovers her baby has been thrown out, she doesn't run out the door, SHE WALKS! Then when she finally gets downstairs and holds her baby, she just holds the baby with her mouth open in silence for about 30 seconds, then! finally lets out a cry. I felt totally robbed of human emotions in that scene. It was like I was more shocked and sad the baby was dead than the mother in the film! The second terrible scene was when Danijel ties up Ajla on the bed after listening to his father tell him that Ajla is not to be trusted. When he comes back in with a gun, you can already feel the chills of the scene. As he sits next to her, he cries and contemplates on whether Ajla is his lover or enemy. Now this scene is really good, up until a point at least. After Danijel contemplates, he then proceeds to stand up and looks at her, kinda standing over her. At this point, you are holding your breath thinking like "Is he going to kill her? Or maybe not?" Then all of a sudden Ajla kisses him, in an attempt to convince him to spare her life. Then he leans in to slowly kiss her, at this point, you're still curling your toes because you don't know what might happen. But all of a sudden, the scene changes to Ajla and Danjiel having sex, and then the scene changes to a different part. It seemed as if Angelina just thought the sex would explain that he decided not to kill her, but it was very unfit for the scene and it just seemed cheap and lacking any artistic depth.

In the movie, Ajla seemed a bit too indifferent to some of the most traumatic scenes in the film, and I think Anjelina made her character too strong. Realistically, there should have been more emotional torture inside of Ajla, thus making her cry a litte more and not only when Danjiel abuses her, and when she discovers that her nephew died.

Overall, the storyline did not help to inform people about the devastation of the Bosnian War because the love story steered me away from the factual events of the war. Reading the notecards in the end was the most effective when informing people about the war. The ending was disappointing and dull, and I hope next time, Angelina takes notes from movies like Schindler's List. That way, when she films her movie about Afghanistan, she'll know how to successfully incorporate facts about historical events, with her storyline.

I was really looking forward to seeing this movie. I have to agree with one of the other members, "...as bad as a movie can be...", exactly. The acting was sub-par and the dialogue, which very little existed, was mostly monotone and single word phrases. I am not going to get into the political aspects of the movie or who was right and who was wrong in the Bosinian Conflict. Absent politics and absent whose fault it was this movie was a complete WASTE. Jolie should stick to acting in the crappy movies she stars in and forget about directing. I only watched the movie in its entirety because I was hoping it would get better and not only did it not get better it got worse. Maybe I did not pick up on the obvious but was the bar scene, at the beginning of the movie, the first time two main characters first meet? And if so are we to take from that that he will risk his live to save her when the conflict is in full gear? Not believable. When she says her final words to him "...I'm sorry..." does that mean she was in on the bombing? And for all the rave reviews out there please, Get out more.

Disappointing, completely and thoroughly. Completely illogical, no connection between scenes, poor acting, strange reactions by the characters. It is completely unclear what message did the plot carry and where was it going? Waste of time, full load of negative emotions! It indeed remains unclear what was the message of this film? How war is terrible thing, or how women suffer the most, or what kind of animals people can be during war times, or to show one more time how love sees now boundaries, or... It seems that screenwriter/director choose topic that is far beyond her directorial capabilities and certainly not something that one should use as plot for director's debut unless he/she knows how to get through with the initial idea on the background of other actions happening...

I was really looking forward to watch this movie since the Bosnia war is such a present event and I still remember articles and news footage form the conflict. The beginning is quite promising and the plot seemed quite simple and interesting (even though done a thousand of times before, I think for all wars possible) but after the first violent shot I started to get confused and the story got quite boring with plain flashes of free violence that I guess were there just to shock the viewer and cover the lack of depth of this movie. It was very disappointing and rather violent with no sense and mingled in a , maybe, attempt to be original and to cover something you know nothing about.

It left a sense of emptiness and also exploitation of a such recent war. Maybe keeping the original language instead of forced English would have helped a bit but I doubt that. I am really surprised that a woman had the courage to direct this and place such a display of nothing.

This could have been a wonderful story and instead is just a festival of shocking images and moments that after a while get tiring and predicable.

The end was quite surprising and there again with a meaning of nothing.

This was probably the worst war- love movie I have ever seen and 127 minutes of life I could have used to do something more interesting.

Most of the people can get past a pretty badly written script – otherwise there wouldn't be so many soap opera. But if you like soap operas, prepare for some really stomach-turning scenes. As someone from the Netherlands beautifully put it – it's war porn at its highest. I first heard of the movie from a newspaper story about some Serbian gangsters threatening the movie director – Angelina Jolie, if she comes to the premiere in Belgrade.

I said to myself, Oh my, what a treat, it must be a REALLY good movie if it made THEM angry. And, Oh my, what a terrible, horrible, heart-breaking miss. There are no 5 minutes in the movie without a major logical, artistic or documentation loophole.

After I saw this movie, I remembered two other movies I recently saw. One was "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider". I laughed like crazy at how outdated it was. And another one is "The Artist".

Why? Well, in this case, Angelina proved to be kind of like The Artist. Yes, we will continue to love her, how can we not? But she should remember that no matter how good a political message is for a movie, a bit of good taste is absolutely vital for a good movie.

And, well, she just didn't show any in this movie. Sorry, Angelina. You're still no Clint Eastwood. Maybe some other day, after you shoot some 20 more thousands zombies, aliens, Russians and so on.

I could go on for pages like this. But, in conclusion, only one more vital thing for understanding why my grade is so low compared to the movie's budget.

What beautiful two main characters actors Angelina had! And what an incredible mess. How limited was the connection between them!

One point. One extra point for just having Angelina trying to make a point and investing such a huge effort in it. It really makes my heart melt. (At least she tried to make a point, unlike so many directors recently.) One extra point for choosing so many actors from the countries in the region the story actually takes place in. It's really admirable, as well as the fact that she tried to film it in Serbia.

Also, I liked the fact that the main character actors are, coincidentally or not, really Serbian Orthodox and Muslim, exactly like in the movie. It is almost like a reconciliation message in the PR story.

Finally, I really liked the fact that the movie was filmed in the local languages as well. Wow, what a beautiful… beautiful gesture.

I find it difficult to watch as a movie ..maybe a documentary would have been a better route?

It is slow and mostly about the raping encounters and not so much of a romance between enemies. The guy wants to love her and her love him back but I feel it is difficult to love if your a captive. Especially if you put your beloved captive in immediate danger of being raped by your fellow comrades. I didn't see as much hash cruelty that I have read about as just raping the women. I have literally lost count of them and I am still watching it. I have actually met a Bosnian soldier and have heard a little about this war. Maybe I was expecting more than I am getting. Overall thus far it is nearly finished now the special effects are good but the story not so much. I am trying to be as polite as I can too.

I am a Bosnian Muslim myself and my husband was a prisoner in a Serb held concentration camp. I was truly disappointed in this movie. Both main characters were greatly underdeveloped and their actions were often not understandable. The cuts were terrible, a lot of scenes left unfinished, unexplained. All throughout the movie I was not able to really connect with the main character Ajla. I couldn't and I didn't feel sorry for her (which is terrible from a woman's point of view). The baby killing (or lack of) scene was so unnecessary and it felt really out of place. I watched many Bosnian made movies (Perfect Circle, No Man's Land, Remake) and this is the first that didn't make me cry. Largely unrealistic and far fetched. Script was also bad and as someone mentioned Ajla was quite inexpressive which is bizarre for a rape/war victim. Her nakedness and her staying in Danijel's room was also unrealistic and really not suitable for a movie about rape victims. I give it a 3/10 because of Angelina's effort to put my country back on the map.

Written by Markus Robinson, Edited by Nicole I. Ashland Before I begin,

I would like to preface this review by saying that I am in no way an expert on the Bosnian War. So, before I receive any hate mail from angry Bosnian's or Serbian's about how I am just a stupid American who is criticizing events that I didn't live through, please realize that I am not criticizing Bosnian's or Serbians or war tactics or cultural differences. My job is to criticize FILMS!!! Angelina Jolie hates Serbians, there I said it! I am joking of course, she loves all races. Angelina Jolie (Salt) receives her first writing and feature film directing credits here in "In the Land of Blood and Honey"; a film that is surprisingly almost entirely in Serbian and Bosnian. There has been some controversy (at least there was for a few months) about this actually being an idea Jolie stole and called her own. But after all is said and done, whether or not she came up with the original idea will be the least controversial aspect to arise from this film. Starring Zana Marjanovic and Goran Kostic, it is not the acting which drags this film down, it is the storyline Jolie chooses to focus on instead of a straight forward war story. Chronicling the systematic encampment, rape and slaughter of the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) ethnic group during the Bosnian War sounds like some very compelling and powerful material, and "In the Land of Blood and Honey" would have been compelling and powerful, if that was what the movie was about. Instead we get a love story, set in the Bosian War between a high ranking male Bosnian Serb soldier (Kostic) named Danijel and his female Bosniak prisoner (Marjanovic) named Ajla, and a very unsatisfying love story at that. In fact the few instances when the story turns its focus from Ajla to her sister, who has not been captured and is attempting to build a resistance against the Serbs, the film becomes far more interesting and gritty. So much so, that an argument could be made about how Ajla's sister would have made a more realistic and compelling focus for this full length feature film than Ajla herself. Furthermore, without Ajla's sister's subplot, "In the Land of Blood and Honey" is a war film that only lightly dabbles in the brutality of war for less than a third of the movie and then it's back to the flimsy love story. In the end, Jolie attempts to address the political, brutal and cultural elements that make war so complex, but spends far, far, far too much time telling the remedial Romeo and Juliet love story between Danijel and Ajla. I am not against love stories by any means, but to have an average love story set during a fairly recent war, where genocide, rape, and political cover-ups took place, the love story aspect tends to take away (or dumb down) every other important point the film is attempting to make. This is kind of like having a hardcore love story in "Schindler's List". It just doesn't work.

What will undoubtedly anger mass audiences the most: Because of the way Jolie structures her film, the tone inevitably does come off as one sided in the same way the aforementioned "Schindler's List" does. Which in and of itself isn't bad, i.e. Nazi's are horrible people. But because "In the Land of Blood and Honey" is a far less developed film, the "all Serbian's (except for one) are inherently ruthless and cruel" mentality this film encourages, comes off as unnaturally skewed especially to those (like me) who are unfamiliar with the in-depth events of the Bosnian War. Now I am not saying that the Serbs in this film, who are shown ethnically cleansing a mass group of Muslims, were not horrible people, BUT the way this movie presents an entire race (The Serbs) as irrational and blood-thirsty, could be perceived as quite one sided. And for that reason, I can see many audiences finding this the most off-putting aspect of "In the Land of Blood and Honey". But then again, I am not a critic of wars.

Final Thought: I will give Jolie some credit here for manufacturing some brilliant shots (mostly the war scenes) that work to show her talent behind a camera. But much as Jolie tries, it seems as if she knows more about the logistics of a love story than about creating a compelling war film. Not to say that "In the Land of Blood and Honey" isn't a watchable effort, and does minimally redeem itself in the final two scenes of the film, BUT how this film was nominated for a Golden Globe only proves that the Hollywood Foreign Press will do anything to hang out with big stars.

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The story was sequenced without actual lead. No reality was involved, in one scene Aila was brutally raped in next she looks happy and having sex with her loving man etc. There are traces of true but whole story of Bosnian war was completely simplified. This looks like a bad copy of Emir Kusturica movie "Life is a miracle" 2004. Angelina Jolly should look this movie and she wouldn't probably never made this film. At the end it looks like somebody ordered cheap story for daily use. Pity! On the other hands actors did professional job. Scenes and environment are very realistic and authentic. Music is somehow out of story. I think that scenario had potential but with lot of changes and adjustment.

NOTE: Viewed the English language version, where actors stumbled to sell their lines with conviction, visibly struggling to preserve their acting chops in the unfamiliar English-language environment.

Set in the brutal Bosnian civil war, directorial débutant Angeline Jolie, delivers a devastating account of the atrocities that occurred during the war, mainly pointing fingers at the Serbian side, while ostensibly siding with the women, the oft forgotten, but most harshly brutalised victims of war. Subject to imprisonment, where they are treated as slave labour, play toys and subject to everyday rape (together with the subsequent pregnancies), knives of fury open up during viewing. Somehow however within this onslaught of injustice Jolie attempts to introduce a romantic backdrop to the story...

Bosniak painter Ajla (Zana Marjanovic) is captured and sent into a strict prisoner camp, where she encounters her former love, Yugoslav People's Army commander Danijel (Goran Kostic). Still enticed by Ajla, Danijel manages to save her from rape victimisation and announces her to be his private woman. Rigid and at times ostensibly cold Danijel does not however force himself on Ajla, instead attempting to rekindle the lost affections of the past despite the murderous genocidal occurrences in abundance. Within this brutal war convictions and feelings must struggle to survive...

In what has been aptly described as war porn, Jolie best succeeds in presenting war atrocity with some impressive and well-designed sets to compliment the story and the despicable ongoings where civilians are worst affected by the insanity. Rape, denigration, brutalisation are everyday life for encaptured women, while not even a screaming baby is safe from the illogical brutality of civil war. For some death is the better alternative...

Nonetheless, Angelina Jolie struggles to find any rhythm in the movie, instead acting out as a disjointed mess lacking dramatic punch. Attempting a more artistic feel, inspired by movies such as "Behind Enemy Lines", first time helmer fails to instill any life into the drab, murky proceedings, leaving a lifeless exterior, which struggling to bring about any emotions apart from the apparent shock factors. Scenes with Ajla and Danijel are always awkward, somewhat detached, making the whole affair a cumbersome attempt at romance, but without conviction. It could be argued that this is purposeful, as given the war implication anything other than this disjointed, half-hearted romance is impossible. However this encapsulating dreariness within an over-reaching two hour run-time makes for an excruciating watch into hopelessness and despair, as viewer attention aimlessly wanders in between atrocities (during which in turn eyes tend to not want to be open to see).

Trying to sort out the causes and background for the Bosnian War takes a lot of patience, but it can be done. The best book on it all is "Love Thy Neighbor" by Peter Maass. Or you could try mine "Bosnia: Hope in the Ashes". (1996) The first thing an objective journalist encounters is "Pay-Back." There is no forgiveness among these people, and hence no chance for reconciliation. The Croats call the Serbs "Chetniks," going back to the 1930's. The Serbs call the Croats "Ustazi" going back to the pro-fascists of WWII. And both of them blame the Mujahedeen for coming in to polarize the secular Muslims. The old general talking to his son showed how carefully the hatred was inculcated into the next generation.

Ironically Tito's Communism nearly integrated the factions. One more generation of inter- marriage would have made it impossible to separate them. Croats and Serbs married Muslims,and thought of themselves as Yugoslavs.

So Jolie was accurate in portraying a doomed mixed-race love story. She was also accurate in implying that the Serbs started it. They did. Tito had built up a huge conventional army to discourage Moscow from absorbing his country. Most of the Generals were Serbs. When the Wall collapsed, and Communism was finished, the Serbs took over the army, marginalizing the Croat generals. Then they went to work on achieving their old vision of Greater Serbia.

There were atrocities on all sides. But most of them were Serbian. Lord Acton was right: power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Their power was absolute. Which is why film-makers like Jolie must be encouraged. No one else is going to hold the bullies and the paras accountable.

In the Land of Blood and Honey passed almost unnoticed among viewers and critics alike, except in the countries that emerged from the former Yugoslavia, where it created a considerable controversy.

In order to understand this, we'd have to explain the history of Balkans and origins of civil war that led to the collapse of Yugoslavia. But even the executive summary of such a story would take up more time than Angelina Jolie's feature film directorial debut.

So if you ignore historical background and accuracy, this is essentially a bad movie. The script is idiotic and acting mediocre. In order to make the movie more realistic the characters talk in English with local dialect. This might be convincing to the average viewer but sounds stupid to anyone who knows this part of the world.

The only good thing is the atmosphere at the beginning of the conflict, where most of the people believed the war would be over in a matter of weeks.

I find it remarkable that a star like Angelina Jolie devotes her times to humanitarian work and tells the world the untold stories of human suffering. At the same time it is regrettable that such stories are biased according to the current dogma envisioned by international politics and media. According to that, it is crystal clear who the good guys are and they should be absolved from all wrongdoing. On the other hand, for the supposed misdeeds of the bad guys the whole population of their country should be punished until eternity.

This is black-and-white image of the world which, in my opinion, is against the founding principles of UNHCR, where Angelina Jolie holds a distinguished post.

Watching this movie was hell. Which I suppose is a bad and a good thing. Bad because I allowed myself to sit in front of the screen for 2 hours and relive the pain. Good because Angelina Jolie did a pretty good job of filming this movie. I am still not quite certain what always brings Angelina back to Bosnia and her affinity for our people, but I am glad that she took such an interest in what happened because she is showing the world what happened. This movie has completely changed my opinion of her. Before watching this movie, I thought this would be more of a sappy twisted love story between a Bosnian woman and Serb man and the focus would be on them versus the actual events of the war. But no, what Angelina did was much smarter than that, much more symbolistic and representative of the actual war. I took plenty of notes during the movie because she made it a point to use symbolism to show you exactly what was happening in the war. She didn't need to explicitly tell you the messages she was trying to highlight. You could see them for yourself. Perhaps the Serbs picked up on this as well and that's why they didn't want to show this movie in their country, but either way the love story was just as much a part of the symbolism as was the actual depiction of the murders, rapes, and torturing of the people. The love story was actually not sappy and not a Hollywood plot of getting you to watch the film, rather it was a means of small-scaling the war for the viewer. By that I mean that she juxtaposed the generalities of what happened in the war with what happened in their relationship. If you told me that a Bosnian made this movie, it wouldn't have surprised me but the mere fact that an American actress did this who hasn't lived a day in the life of a Bosnian during the war, shows you how sheer genius her script really is. The movie starts out with the Bosnian Muslim woman and the Serb man dancing, enjoying one anothers company together in a seemingly carefree and enjoyable environment. Without a warning to them or the viewer, their scene together is bombed, ending their blissful fate together and separating them into the roles that the Serb army has dictated for them. The woman is hand picked along with other women to become the personal slaves of Serb soldiers at one of their camps, while the man is the son of one of the largest army leaders in the war and forced to be on the front lines. I wasn't sure if she was trying to insinuate that the father of the man was Ratko Mladic or not (their resemblance was uncanny) but I don't think that she meant that as her focus anyways. Bosnia started out the same way. Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian Serbs, and Bosnian Croats lived together in relative harmony before the war. These 'ethnic issues' that we talk about now were minimal and never enough to come close to even the idea of a war this size. The abrupt bombing of the harmonious scene between the two protagonists mirrors the ideas of Radovan Karadic and Radko Mladic firing up their army men and their quick destruction of Muslim towns. The film continues, showing the mass rapes of the women day in and day out by Serb soldiers. Watching these scenes was so hard that I had to stop the film a couple of times simply because I knew I couldn't watch them. I could literally feel my body being affected watching this movie because my heart started to pound for these women, I started to shake, and I couldn't breathe as I watched what happened to them. It's not like this was my first time watching a film about Bosnia. I've read, heard, and seen plenty of things about Bosnia to tell you all of the same facts that someone would whose actually lived it. The major difference, though, is that I haven't lived it and whenever I watch these rapes, killings, and torturings happen, I just can't even function. I feel numb. I feel like all of my insides have turned to ice. I feel like I'm watching this outside of my body. The war in Bosnia was actually the first was where sexual crimes against women were legally considered a war crime in the Hague and international courts of law. Angelina knew that and obviously repeatedly wanted to share that message throughout the movie. Rape was just another means of the Serbs wanting to control Bosnia. Raping these women was the Serbians way of showing power over them, showing power over the Muslims. Raping these women was a symbolism of raping Bosnia of half of their power and sustanenance of their society. It doesn't matter that maybe the exact characters Angelina used were fictional, her point was that this is what really happened. She didn't make this just a scene in another movie. These are the stories of women from Bosnia who have survived the war. These rapes were real and as horrifying as it is for you to watch them, these women have to live with what happened for the rest of their lives. That thought, moreso than the actual rape scene, is what scared me the most.

Without touching the political aspects, I try to say, I must show my greatest respect for the director Jolie. I don't know what moved her to touch such a subject right in the begin of her career as a director,I must admit though, she did a great job in this: Good cast, good story-telling, good pace,good pictures. What else could she have done better?

I can understand, she stirred a lot in the mood of audience, making people feel bad about what happened in front of the eyes of all world,especially the Europeans, simply watching and waiting it ended somehow.

And again, it must be a woman who was courageous enough to hold the mirror into the faces of people, men especially with so much ignorance and hypocrisy. And again it is men surely, claiming she did a bad job. I just say to this: good job, Angelina. Very good job, indeed.

Very well done even when not historical accurate or some actor do not appear "3D". This movie will keep your attention through and through. Please reserve a strong moment, preferably not with your kids. Its recommendable for teens from 19+ and its the counterpart for "Schindlers List" just for the modern times.

The both main actors won't show you an extraordinary performance but it the given situation of destruction and war, you won't even miss it.

This movie also shows very well there is nobody to judge, just our self by allowing this on an international level or simply watching away ! And, this movie isn't that bad as all the reviewers try to paint it. Its having a very complex and sensitive story.

It deserves at least an 7+ and is an excellent documentation of how war destroys humanity.

During the Bosnian War, the captive Bosnian Ajla (Zana Marjanovic) is brought with other women to a Serbian barrack to serve the soldiers. The commander Danijel (Goran Kostic) recognizes Ajla that he met in a night-club and wooed her and he discreetly protects her. They rekindle their love, but can they trust on each other?

"In the Land of Blood and Honey" is a surprisingly good romance in the brutal Bosnian War and the debut of Angeline Jolie as director. The love story is very well written in the environment of the atrocities and the genocide of the Serbian army and the conclusion is perfect.

I include "In the Land of Blood and Honey" in my list of best movies about this horrible war: "Welcome to Sarajevo"; "Harrison's Flowers"; "Vulkovar"; "Pretty Village, Pretty Flame"; "Shot Through the Heart'"; "Savior"; "Bure Baruta" and "No Man's Land". My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Na Terra de Amor e Ódio" ("In the Land of Love and Hate")

It's not a bad movie. Actually it would have been a pretty good if it was a Bosnian movie, but it does not live up to the expectations of a Hollywood movie of a major movie star.

The story was weak - the main characters meet once, then they meet again when she is kidnapped by Serbian soldiers and they are suddenly in love. It feels like they were in a relationship before the war but the movie never makes that clear.

There is no background on the war, no explanation why any of these events are taking place, no reason where the all that hate is coming from.

The characters stroke me as emotionless. I understand that some of that could be attributed to being used to seeing death and atrocities during the war, but there is little war footage and it feels fake.

There is some character development, the Serbian commander has some second thoughts about the reasons behind the war, but overall he simply goes along with everything with little to no emotion and giving very little insight in his thoughts reasoning.

The cinematography was good, the acting was pretty good, the story is original and engaging even though it's not developed well.

"No Man's Land" is much better movie on the Bosnian war in my opinion.

Ignore all the negative user reviews, most of them are made by ultra nationalists Serbs that are full of hate. This movie realistically pictures war crimes done by Serbs in Bosnian war. THESE CRIMES HAPPENED and whoever denies that is no better than people who deny holocaust. Sure directing could be better but this is Angie's first movie and she did a great job for a first one. As someone who lived on Bosnia during the war (and I still live here) I am surprised with level of Realistic details that are put together in this film. If you think that things shown in this movie are "over the top" and "war porn" you need to research more. Thank you Angie for caring. A solid 7

Why all the low reviews for this movie, In the Land of Blood and Honey is not the best war movie out right now, but the reviews by many first time reviewers here should be red flag for IMDb moderators. It does show the compassion that both sides had and that not all are war mongers and a racist people. The conflict in the region goes back hundreds of years, but that is history and for it to be repeated again does give us a view into our own inhumanity towards one another.

The term ethnic cleansing was made well know from this conflict and by it 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 or religious group from certain geographic areas. This did take place in the Bosnian War and it was well documented that most of it was carried out by the Serb population. Again, I believe this was much better movie than most reviewers saw in it.

It was well acted and directed and should have a wider following.

This is one of the best movies I watched about Bosnian war. It is viewed from the side of Muslim Bosnians but tries to "understand" the Serbian side. The movie doesn't try to be an historical or factual movie. In fact, it leads you to a state where you can think about the human race actions. Why we do those things? There's no simple explanation. You are motivated to do some kind of things now that will make no sense a minute later. You react by impulse, by the influence of the others. That's in my opinion the main goal and the conclusion about this movie. If you'll try to obtain a justification for those actions, you can eventually find one but which will be a reflex of some other and so on.

The movie has a lot of violence but this was the cruel war, wasn't it?

How I was surprised! I started to watch this film, with so many bad notes made upon it. Like witch hunt. I am Serb, and I had problems when go outside of my country why being a Serb. They said in the media that it is both "a bad film" and "Serbs are again presented bad", so I did not go to see the premiere, which I now really regret. Film is excellent, it is mine opinion.

Thank you Angelina, because you did more for this region with this film, then all the politicians and movie makers from region did.

Politicians never started to talk about this "hot potato" subject, really, truthfully, yet it is of extreme importance to be talked about. Artists from all kinds waived that subject, fearing this kind of criticism that Angelina suffers. She has suffered true media mobbing, totally out of any reason and/or real arguments.

Why? Because it is love story, and story about man's essence in the war. It can be watched more times then one (already did second view) because it has many layers in it. Everybody expected I do no know what. Classical war action, maybe? War atrocities? Nothing of this is brutally depicted in the film, because the film paid maximum attention to the viewer. It is gentle speaking of real truth about war in Bosnia.

Not all Serbs are criminals. Who watched this film carefully, COULD HAVE seen it. Film was not about taking sides on who is guilty for war in Bosnia. It is almost Orwellian love story between two young Romeo and Juliet, who could not resist so much hate around them to develop their love.

Film has a strong message: Give chance to love! Now about some solutions of Angelina: I really liked the beginning, because nothing was said about the bomb. It is really unimportant for the story. Scenario was sharp, not neglected.Lights were kept natural, because of documentary style, to tight viewer to his seat, like he is there, like the story is live and ongoing. All characters were like shaken, like half-developed, because they are half-developed, they can not show their true faces, because only war and hate are aloud to show their face. All characters are in the middle, having nowhere to go, just to obey, or to be killed, like puppets. Yet, if you look the film twice, or more carefully first time, you will see the characters.

Going from America, it is as original, and as good, as no film I watched in ten years. It really moved me. Not only me, but my friends too. Yet, when film is great, and radically about something, even love, it always picks up bad critics, or suffer to be ridiculed.

I hope, when time passes, and much more people watch this film carefully, people from all 3 sides will thank you.

Until then, I must say my thanks first. Thank you Angelina, for this excellent film, as a man whose country was part of the conflict, and as big movie fan. I did not like much new American films, as for watching them you do not need no brains, just eyes. Your movie gives me hope for American film. There are some true artists in America, after all...