Review of A Serbian Film (2010) by Carl M — 31 Jan 2013

Sick, twisted, and disturbing are inadequate terms used to describe Srdjan Spasojevic's notorious new Exploitation picture, A SERBIAN FILM. Reprehensible, ultra-violent pornography is much more accurate, but in a world that has become numbed to sex, violence, and gore in a film, is this not what we crave? Spasojevic brings us the next generation of shock, working off of similar themes to those found in Pier Paolo Pasolini's SALO and Michael Haneke's FUNNY GAMES. The only world in which A SERBIAN FILM can be made is a world in which it can be sold and consumed, and the record number of reviews for this film show that viewers the world over are ready for this extreme form of entertainment. For those of you who have watched this film and protested its graphic content, you must ask yourself "Why did I watch this film in the first place? Was it not my own morbid curiosity that drove me to see it?" A SERBIAN FILM is easy enough to avoid just in reading the film's synopsis:

Milos, a poor and retired porn star, is offered the deal of a lifetime to return to his previous profession for one final film. The catch is that he is unable to read the script, a fact that he will soon live to regret as he and his family are pulled in to the director's horrifying new vision...

Drugs, rape, incest, torture... All of the things that a proper society looks extricate or ignore are prominently displayed on screen in graphic detail, and for no better reason than to disgust. The fact that this film has been censored and re-released in several edited forms in a day and age where 'Uncut' and 'Not Rated' have become huge selling points can speak to the film's power. Its continued sale, however, only serves to prove Spasojevic's point: That there is a market for everything... 'Newborn Porn' not excluded. A SERBIAN FILM is only softened by the fact that it is so professionally made and cleanly shot, placing the filter of fiction over the characters' actions and the audience. Had Spasojevic employed a hand-held approach and bought in to the "found-footage" trend, we may have been faced with dangerous and potentially criminal results. We must then ask ourselves, "What's next?" Who will be the one that takes that next step, and when they do, will we watch? It is difficult to justify a film with such explicit content, but, if for nothing else, A SERBIAN FILM becomes a valid form of art when it forces us to confront alarming issues such as these in any medium.