Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

efffigie I wasn't going to review this movie, but it seemed there weren't many 'Americans' reviewing it, so I'll go ahead.Firstly, the English subtitles are absolutely terrible and the movie, in English, suffers for that. It's a shame, because the Serbian dialogue is really clever and often hilarious, which doesn't come through in those awful subtitles. This is nothing unique: why can't Serbian movies rate decent subtitles? When I go back and talk with friends, some of whom were BPC/VRS, I never bring up this movie, although we often talk about movies, especially old Yugo productions. But this one I leave alone. The first movie about the conflict I saw, VUKOVAR, I saw in a small cinema in 1996, in Chicago, and after that one it took me literally 20 years to watch this film; I knew about it but couldn't make myself see it. And even after all that time, I could only watch it 10-15 minutes at a time; I would get too agitated and... upset, I guess, to watch longer sections. This one nails it. Not the combat scenes, which are largely very 'war movie'-style, or even some of the conceits (like the journalist), but in tone and atmosphere this movie absolutely nails it. The characters are pretty much dead on, and that sense of dread and almost, like, some malevolent presence, like an unseen evil being that can't be escaped, is what makes this movie. Yeah, many 'Serbian' Serbs do look down on Bosnian Serbs as kind of backward hicks and foreigners. One of my 'cultured' friends in the Vojvodina refers to Bosnian Serbs as, 'Those a***oles that ruined it for everyone!'. The sense of bewilderment and escalating, cascading violence that has some life all its own, and doesn't burn out but just keeps getting worse and worse and worse. "I didn't kill your mother!""Then who did!?" That sense of vile hatred and rage, man, nobody should ever feel that. Nobody. It just eats you from the inside out. It steals your identity and soul. This movie manages to capture that, and that's what makes it what it is, I think. It doesn't have any solutions or explanations, far from it, but it manages to capture the feel of the time and place. For that it's a great film. That's about it.

NateManD Director Srdjan Dragojevic's Bosnian war film "Pretty Village, Pretty Flame" is an amazing movie about two friends separated by the cost of war. Milan is Serbian, and Halil is Muslim. They are best friends, and we learn much about them through flashbacks in the story. The movie is shown out of sequence, so we see Milan in the hospital, and through the various flashbacks we witness what got him to the hospital. One of the films images which stands out in my mind, is the beginning with the opening of the 1980 peace tunnel. During the celebration the man cuts his finger instead of the ribbon. Then we are forced to move unto the present where peace is far from any mindset. Both friends as children are afraid to go into a tunnel, for they fear an ogre lives in there. All grown up and in the heat of battle, Milan and his squad hide from the Muslims in that particular tunnel, only to be trapped there for days in a grueling stand off between the Serbs and Muslims. They almost become the ogres. Mulan remembers the good times with Halil, before the war broke out. A medical supply truck driven by a recovering junkie gets trapped in the cave also with a female American journalist who is hidden inside. The film is very realistic, but at the same time manages to throw in some dark comedy. Even when Mulan is in the hospital and can hardly move from injuries, he is still hellbent on killing a Bosnian soldier who is in the next room over. All he can think about is his mother and his family who is dead, and his fellow comrade who is almost dead. His other friend, the professor comforts him and tries to convince him that revenge is not worth it. From that point on the film grows more psychologically disturbing. There is so much in this film, that it is hard to describe unless you've seen it or understand the Bosnian conflict. "Pretty Village, Pretty Flame" is far from a typical Hollywood war film. Although the film is told through the view of the Serbian side, No military act is justified. This has to be one of the saddest films I have ever seen. Another image that haunts me even after the film has ended, is the scene where the ground is covered head to toe with dead corpses, including children. Emotional accordion music plays in the background, as the brutal nature of war is shown in a way a Hollywood film would never be able to. "Pretty Village Pretty Flame" is one of the best and underrated war films of all time. See it to remind yourself of how sad and terrible war is. It's a tense dramatic film that stays with you, long after it's over 10/10

DJ Lepa Sela Lepo Gore, or with the English name Pretty Village Pretty Fire, is a story about the Bosnian conflict, through the "serbian" side. It tells one big story, which tells the life of Milan, from the 1980's until 1994. The movie is an anti-war movie, never does it make an impression that this war is good, or that men love this war. It is a very good and dark movie, which maybe tells the story from different view than people are used to, but still shows that both sides (Muslim Bosnians and Orthodox Bosnians) are actually only fighting for their country, and that they both did awful things during the war. The movie is very good, some actors give their natural great performance, but still, because it's a low budget movie, we can see some lesser actors, and even mistakes. I have watched this movie a couple of times in a row, I did like it, however, after some time, there were things that were bugging me a bit. First things are the language. All Bosnians (Muslim and Orthodox) speak the same dialect, but in the movie, we sometimes hear them speak a Serbian dialect. This is maybe due to the fact that most of the actors were actually from Serbia, and not from Bosnia. At one point we even hear young Halil say "Hteli" (want) in Serbian dialect, while it's impossible he would say that. He would normally say "Htijeli". There were other dialect mistakes in the movie as well. One other thing, is the mixture between Serbians and Orthodox Bosnians (who also call themselves Serbians). In the war, The Yugoslav army from Serbia was not mixed with Orthodox Bosnians. These were two factions, fighting along side, but never as one. However, in the movie we see that Orthodox Bosnians, Serbians drafted into the army, and Yugoslav army are all together and make one team. Also, the Muslim Bosnian soldiers seem not to know how to attack those in the tunnel. We see them often just running past the opening, or walking slowly towards the inside of the tunnel while shooting. Every man would know that would be too dangerous, and they would surely hide near the opening, and fire all the time, while not visible. Also, they would throw many grenades inside. But these guys seemed to be just as some mindless henchmen in some B-action movie. And if there were so many killed, where were their bodies?Still, this movie is really good, and next to having three begins and three endings, it also has flashbacks, which are fitted nicely. Every time there is a flashback, we see the reason why there would be a flashback. For example, telephone is ringing in the story, then it flashbacks where another telephone is ringing. This is well done, because that way we are not bothered by short flashbacks which continuously follow each other. We jump from time to time, but still we know exactly when it is happening, and we are not bored for a second. The movie is also very realistic, and it shows human nature. For example, we see that Milan does not want to be involved in the war at first, is even 'protecting' his friend's house by shooting some of his own men. Even when he finds his mother slaughtered, he still seems that he just wants to live through the war, without shooting or harming anyone. It is in the tunnel though, that we see him come to other thoughts, as his self-preservation reflexes kick in, and so he starts shooting. After we see him go through all these things happening in the tunnel, he changes, and at the hospital is making plans how to kill a Muslim Bosnian brought to the Belgrade hospital. But, when he comes to this, he sees that it is all in vane, and possibly commits suicide.The yelling between the two factions also was very familiar to me. These kinds of things happened a lot during the war. Including playing music to each other. Very good movie, very well made, and if the movie had a bigger budget it would have been even better.

takac How bad can things go?! When its war - they go very bad! I strongly believe that this is the greatest war movie after APOCALIPSE NOW!!! Please get it.It depicts every little thing that makes war a terrible, gruesome, and evil thing that shouldn't be idealised no matter on which side you are...There is very little things to say about it. Along with another masterpiece called NOZ - this movie represents quintessential explanation of Balkan - His wars and His frequency of people's attempts to destroy other people just because of religion and ethnicity...There is just one thing that will bother me forever : Why did that Bosnian movie (what's his name? Yes you already forgot it...) got an academy award? This movie deserved it BIG TIME!!!