A Serbian Film: A Review

RATING
What it tried to do: ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
What it accomplished: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

There are those movies out there that seem to exist to whet some masochistic curiosity to stretch the limits of what you as a viewer can stand. Not surprisingly, a market has been made out of this strange desire to watch things that are simply unpleasing to sit through, and extremophiles now have a continually fresh variety of trash to sift through, some of them packaged with a nice moral kick in between the smut. After enough of these movies, I can assuredly say that curiosity is a disease. But even acknowledging that doesn't stop me from succumbing to its tantalizing allure, and that's where I find myself watching A Serbian Film.

Much like Michael Haneke's Funny Games, this movie presents itself as a criticism of the so-called “torture porn” genre that has seemed to pass itself off as “horror” - a vein that includes the Saw franchise, Eli Roth films and most of the Asian Extreme outfit. However, in order to accomplish their criticisms, both movies are defined by the very thing they are criticizing, making them innately flawed. It also makes them very hard to sit through because they constantly remind you that you aren't supposed to be enjoying what you are watching. No entertainment is to be gained from a movie that makes you feel bad for watching it.

I'm not going to sit here and deny that the film has any merits. In fact, a large portion of the movie steeps itself as a family drama, and even a somewhat enchanting one that deals with the strain of having a father and a husband who makes his living as a porn star. The scenes between Miloš, the father, and his son are particularly awkward and touching, especially in one instance when Miloš has to explain the confusion the boy feels when he accidentally stumbles upon one of pornography videos by his father. It also handles the transition from drama to thriller pretty well, with the atmospheric soundtrack and lighting becoming darker and more intense as the plot is removed from its heels. It's a very disorienting effect, but combined with the almost laughably tasteless context of the film, it ends up being completely jarring.

Speaking of tasteless, there's a scene where a newborn baby is raped. Just thought I would throw that out there. It stretches the few boundaries that are left to stretch and because of that it has been banned from quite a few film festivals, perhaps that was the point of the film. There are obvious influences taken from Marquis de Sade's The 120 Days of Sodom and even a direct reference to George Bataille's Story of the Eye, classics in the realm of libertine philosophy and perversion. However, retreading this material in a modern light doesn't do anything to lift the film. When Pasolini adapted de Sade's work for Salò, he contextualized the work's brutality within the rise of Mussolini's fascism during World War II, a politically relevant platform that criticizes the sad state of affairs Italy was in during that time period. Though political corruption and abuse of power are themes that play into A Serbian Film, the movie doesn't have the context to back that up (I'm not an expert on modern Serbian politics, but I'm pretty certain that it isn't quite as bad as Mussolini's Italy.) It doesn't even stand as a relevant statement about the affairs of the pornography industry, like Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights did so well. So what is it trying to say?

The makers of this movie are basically saying “We made this movie because we can.” They have even stated that the vast majority of moviegoers will not want to see this movie. Too true – the movie will probably only hit hard to those people who are unprepared for it. As for those who do want to see it – haven't you got something better to do?