We’ve all known for a while Angelina Jolie has been directing a film about the Bosnian conflict. It’s been a project plagued not just by her immense fame but by considerable controversy. She has been denied permission to film in various areas for a number of reasons. The subject matter of her film has attracted urgent and passionate criticism. The story was initially reported as following a Bosnian rape victim who fell in love with her Serbian captor and rapist. When the news broke Jolie’s politically aware, humanitarian record seemed certain to take a battering. The President of the Bosnian Women Victims of War Association spoke out against the female half of Hollywood’s biggest couple, denouncing her debut as a filmmaker as something that aimed to “falsify historical truth”.
We film critics and cinemagoers had less pressing concerns about the quality of the storytelling. Would Jolie turn out to be another Madonna, simply making something controversial for the sake of something new to do? Personally I thought the film would be a syrupy, over political mess.
The trailer confirms the divisive Stockholm syndrome element of the story. But it also springs a surprise; the film looks worth seeing. As a writer Jolie appears to have produced some interesting snippets of dialogue at the very least, and as a director, if the mood of the trailer is anything to go by, she’s conjured a wartime drama with passion and affecting human weight.
Watch the trailer for In the Land of Blood and Honey below and tell us your thoughts - are you as pleasantly surprised as I am?
Liam Trim (follow me on Twitter)
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