No Man's Land, Bosnia

No Man’s Land, a film by Danis Tanovic, shows the Balkan conflict in a different light from movies like Underground. While both sides, Serbian and Balkan, are portrayed in their most violent states, there appears a much larger, imposing critique of the global community’s involvement in the conflict.

The film critiques how the global community responded to and treated the participants of the Balkan conflict. The soldiers, Nino (Serbian), Ciki (Bosnian), and Cera (Bosnian), are stuck in a trench together, and nothing can be done by global forces but look into the trench, see the people fighting, and occasionally try to preserve a non-existent peace. From these actions, the global community is portrayed as being above the soldiers in the conflict. This idea is further reinforced by camera angles, where the members of the UNPROFOR and the global news media are portrayed as either looking down upon the trench or being looked up to from the trench.

A more significant and more negatively critical portrayal comes from Cera’s predicament. He is trapped on a mine that will ultimately (we presume) lead to his demise. The first critique comes from the creation of such an inhumane weapon as this. It is foreign made (in the EU), which suggests that members of the European Union cannot be totally absolved of the conflict in the Balkans. Furthering this involvement, though, is the UN’s inability to help resolve Cera’s situation and their hiding of the real magnitude of it. They cannot defuse their own mine, and because of this ineptitude and lack of foresight, they choose to hide their shame by evacuating a false body, while leaving the real person in the trench to die. Despite Cera’s nationality, he embodies the innocent people of the Balkan region who the outside world first allowed to be put into a compromising position, later could not help solve it, and ultimately lead to their death.

No Man’s Land, through these portrayals takes a very local, personal conflict, and reinforces the global involvement that did nothing to help the situation.

Underground, Serbia

Emir Kusturica’s Underground presents a very unique perspective on the conflict in the Balkan region. While it borders on being a comedy, the severity of the themes in the film produce a unique mixture (a black comedy) in which symbolism and interpretation must be used to read the ironic takes on different subjects.

Though there are many symbols and themes in the movie, one of the ones that seems to get the most ironic treatment is the white horse. White horses are traditionally representative of purity and chivalry. The situations in which the notion of a white horse appears, though, are neither pure nor chivalrous. For instance, the title of the film being produced in one of the subplots of the film, involves a white horse. The film is greatly distorting the truth about what occurred during the skirmishes that Marko and Blacky fought in as well as the role Natalija played in those battles. While this is criticizing the film industry (ironic since it is a film), it also relates to how throughout history in the Balkans, there has been very little notion of what is pure, right, or chivalrous. There are too many sides to the battles that have been fought in the region for a sole winner or loser to be certain.

Reinforcing this ironic treatment, as well, is the appearance of a white horse passing through the background behind Marko in the final war scene of the movie. The appearance of a white horse in the midst of a battle contributes to some of the absurdity of the film’s humor, but also, like before, has significance to the plot and characterization. The irony comes from the relationship between Marko and the chivalry implication of the white horse and that Marko has been everything less than chivalrous throughout the course of the movie.

Underground, through its irony and comedy, effectively connects to the audience (despite its length). The film, thanks to these universal symbols, is quite global. It is through these global elements, like the white horse, that the audience relates to very dark local aspects of the film. Underground, therefore is an excellent movie for viewing enjoyment as well as hard analysis.

My Sassy Girl, South Korea

My impressions of Kwak Jae-yong’s My Sassy Girl are mixed. It contains elements that are both highly unique and fresh, but at the same time it follows the overdone, hackneyed archetype of boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, they separate, and finally are reunited. Due to these two conflicting characteristics, one must look towards characterization and structure to see the real detail of the film.

The character development in the story is impeccably done. The characters develop their personalities very quickly and do not violate them through the movie. For instance, Gyeong-woo, the main character is introduced very early in the film to be a slightly effeminate male looking to in some ways prove his manhood by being a “lady’s man.” Similarly, his female counterpart is cast very early as being a very physical (and physically violent) person even in her inebriated state. This foreshadowing is accomplished through her continued grabbing of Gyeong-woo in her disoriented state that can be construed as both physically violent actions and, due to their impishness, friendly embraces. These two complex characters act as foils for each other initially, but as the movie progresses both characters become more moderate in their actions— Gyeong -woo taking a more masculine role and his female opposite becoming more feminine. This equalization ultimately suggests equality between the two characters as well as a strong relationship. Although this characterization is well done, structure detracts from the film viewing experience.

The structure of the film has few positive aspects and more negative ones. In favor of the structure is a unique organization that is different from many Hollywood movies. Although it does employ a fairly linear storyline, the division into parts (Part One, Part Two, and Overtime) is not something often seen in Hollywood-esque films and helps to highlight when major changes in characterization will occur. At the same time, though, the familiar plot archetype of the film causes the film to feel slightly too long. It becomes fairly obvious by mid way through Part Two what the story will entail for those remotely familiar with the archetype. Although there is a twist at the end to help curtail this negativity, several scenes towards the end of movie detract from the overall viewing experience even while serving important purposes for finalizing the characterization and gracefully concluding the story.

My Sassy Girl contains elements that are both well done, but at the same time slightly hackneyed, and drawn out. Therefore, the film presents an interesting case for study because it manages to maintain artifacts of its own culture while simultaneously employing a Hollywood style archetype.