A Serbian Film (2010)

I've written a book and some articles about film censorship, so given the controversy looming around this particular film, and its highly interesting release history in the UK (read wikipedia for more), I got my hands on a pre-release uncensored copy. What's very interesting is that apart from some suggestive shots hinting at pedophilia and the extension of the film's most gruesome, unforgettable scene, it's all there, only left to the imagination - leaving me with the question I've come up with whenever confronted with such a case: if censorship leaves certain aspects to the spectator's imagination, isn't the effect even more stimulating?

Yes, 'A Serbian Film' undoubtedly runs for the title of the yuckiest film ever. Yes, it's definitely reveling in the very muck it pretends to criticize, i.e. the complete and total moral decay of our times. I would have very much favored an incorporation of the (presumably Western) consumers of the kind of pornography it deals with, for that remains the film's weakest aspect: the social commentary is quite accurate, but not sufficiently explored.

And yet, 'A Serbian Film' is still unmistakably a piece of art. The technical specs are top-notch for such a limited budget. The acting, especially Sergej Trifunovic as psychiatrist-turned-porn producer Vukmir, is nothing short of (disturbingly) wonderful. And most important of all: the underlying anger appears to be real. I was in Serbia for a festival last year (prior to this film's release), and cannot help but remember how similar some opinions and stories I heard were to the views expressed in this film. That being said, I completely understand why Serbs were outraged at this film. Being born in Romania, which has an equal share of ethical bankruptcy, I must admit that if this had been made in Romania, and called 'A Romanian Film', I would be very very mad.

This is one of those rare pieces of celluloid which will most likely not allow for any neutral point of view, like 'Mondo Can(nibal)e', or Pasolini's 'Salo', or the collected films of Catherine Breillat. The difference for me is that I usually dislike films of this nature because of their wantonly exploitative nature serving no narrative purpose; that purpose, however, exists in 'A Serbian Film', making it all the more disturbing and relevant.