Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

"In the Land of Blood and Honey" is a film directed by Angelina Jolie taking place in Bosnia during the war. It's about a Bosnian-Serb soldier named Danijel who is fighting for the Serb army, re-encountering Ajla, a Bosnian who is now captive in a camp he looks over. The once loving couple are now at a cross, as their motives and beliefs have changed since their situations. As a Bosnian, This film is absolutely horrible. It lacks realism in the sense that a Bosnian-Muslim woman would never fall in love with a Serbian soldier who pillaged and destroyed her way of life. The same goes vice-versa for Danijel. A Serb soldier who is full of propaganda and Serbian nationalism would never love a Bosnian-Muslim girl. If anything, he'd just see her as an object. Maybe even less. Ajla is also taken as a prisoner and stuck under supervision of Danijel. This is also a very flawed idea as Bosnian-Muslim women in those camps were stuck in tight spaces and used for rape. They were never protected by anyone especially their captors, Serb soldiers. The film captures a small stint of realism in how it portrayed the brutality of the Serbs. Such as a soldier barging in the apartment and throwing the baby off a balcony just because he could is indeed something the Serbs did to young Bosnian-Muslim children. Another accurate portrayal is when the Serb soldier bends the girl over and rapes her in front of everyone to humiliate her and get a kick out of it. These small acts of brutality is the only thing this film has done regarding historical accuracy, Anything other than that, is just BS hollywood writing. All around, "In the Land of Blood and Honey" is not a accurate, nor is it an entertaining film. I understand if the point of this was to appeal to western audiences. However, I'd rather use actual true stories from people who lived the war and use accurate information from them rather than idiotic, inaccurate Hollywood nonsense. Just because a film has a decent budget doesn't mean it's good. If there was anyone who'd ever want to know actual historical and accurate knowledge about the war in Bosnia through film, I'd strongly recommend "No Man's Land" and "Cirkus Columbia." These films are written and directed by people who have lived through the conflict and accurately portray what really happened in the country.

First of all, I want to mention that I haven't watched the movie nor will I because of personal reasons and also because it just isn't appealing enough to me. I don't know much about what happened during the Bosnian war nor the other Yugoslav wars simply because I wasn't born then yet. I've read stories and heard different interpretations of the misdeeds and atrocities that happened, as well as of the reasons why it all happened. I will conclude only one thing and that is that "it's very complicated" as one of the characters said himself. Therefore I think that Angelina Jolie, someone who comes from a country that has committed many misdeeds and was, in my opinion, very much involved in the atrocities that happened in the Balkans, had no business interpreting these events in her own way and making it into a highly publicized movie. I won't say that her interpretation is completely inaccurate, but she covered only one side of the story, while ignoring the other, deliberately or not. I personally believe that she didn't have bad intentions, she just didn't observe all the aspect and was full of prejudice and bias towards Serbian people, which is consequently creating a wrong picture in the world. It was just too much for her to take on and handle as it is such a controversial topic and it entails a great deal of responsibility. Reading the comments and the reviews of this movie made me realize that the movie had such a bad impact on interpersonal relations between people of different nationalities and religions in the Balkans, where the tension was already running high, that it made the situation significantly worse.To those who want to read about this war as I believe it happened, I recommend reading this: http://www.balkanstudies.org/articles/understanding-balkan-wars To summarize, a war is something you have to live through in order to know enough to make a movie about it and present it to the world. This specific war is particularly difficult and traumatic because of the number of innocent victims and the tragic consequences that are still appreciable. Therefore I think Angelina shouldn't have made this movie (this way) because it just reminds all the people who survived the war of the tragic events, as well as the unresolved issues and repressed feelings that are still very present. In the times when we are trying to break free from the past and make things better, this kind of reminder is not welcome.

For those of you who are wondering whether this is a good film or a bad film, you can't judge it that way. This is a fictional film about a very real situation that happened in the Croation / Serbian / Balkan Regions in the 90's. Most Americans know nothing of the horrors that went on during this time period because American Media and Popular World media gave it very little coverage at best, but mostly no coverage at all of what was really happening.This is about the genocide in the Bosnian / Serb War. It depicts many points of view, form a Muslim's POV to A Serb's POV and many POV's in between. Serbians feared that Muslims were taking over leadership and with the help of Propaganda fueled a hatred of Muslims in the region. It was very similar to what happened to the Jews in Nazi Germany. Neighbors and friends turned on each other. Lovers and Families were ripped apart. Women in captivity were raped and killed, children slaughtered; and the World pretty much ignored the whole situation.Angelina Jolie learned of the conflict and researched into it and was horrified by what happened and how it was not something the media seemed to care about. She wanted to tell a story to make people aware of it, but she wanted it to be true and heartfelt.The story revolves around a Muslim Woman and a conservative Serbian Army Commander and His Father and the conflict and it does jump around and give you different perspectives. It unflinchingly looks a rape of captive women in times of conflict. It's not your typical blockbuster action packed thrill ride, or your "chick flick" romantic type movie......it's an emotional roller coaster of love, hate, politics, religion, genocide, shame, guilt, pain and loss.If you find history boring or fictionalized stories interwoven with true events tedious, then you will hate this film. But if you are interested in something you may not know much about, this film is a great introduction and insight into the happenings during this war. It will most likely make you want to research more about it, dig at the truth and the aftermath. This movie is haunting and beautiful and disturbing and dark....it's not going to be everyone's idea of a good film, but in my opinion it was fantastic!

The story was sequenced without actual lead. No reality was involved, in one scene Aila was brutally raped in next she looks happy and having sex with her loving man etc. There are traces of true but whole story of Bosnian war was completely simplified. This looks like a bad copy of Emir Kusturica movie "Life is a miracle" 2004. Angelina Jolly should look this movie and she wouldn't probably never made this film. At the end it looks like somebody ordered cheap story for daily use. Pity! On the other hands actors did professional job. Scenes and environment are very realistic and authentic. Music is somehow out of story. I think that scenario had potential but with lot of changes and adjustment.