Obicni Ljudi (Vladimir Perisic, 2009)

Ordinary People treads gingerly along the long path towards Serbian self-critique of the Bosnian war and the atrocities they committed, fearful of provoking lynching parties back home for just touching the subject. It's understandable, of course, being the first of its kind, but this stifles the authorial voice too and so most of the running time passes in dialogueless long takes. On one hand, this means that it can say nothing explicit about the actions and emotions of the uninformed firing squad that we follow as they are directed to shoot civilians in some deserted village. However, on the other, the concomitant lack of preaching and exposition are truly refreshing, even if this was just the result of directorial self-censorship. The soldiers reluctantly following unexplained orders become universal figures of sorts, and this absolves the film to an extent of the obligation to express overt outrage.

6/10