Only 12 people turned out for the Serbia premiere of Hollywood star Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut- a love story set in the Bosnian war- and some walked out before the end. Contrary to widespread rumours, ‘In the Land of Blood and Honey’ was not banned in Serbia but the reception it got was a far cry from the 5,000 people who cheered Jolie at a gala in Sarajevo last week. Jolie’s film, shot in 2010 with actors from the former Yugoslavia, tells the story of a Muslim woman and a Serbian man who have a fling before the war and meet again when she has been taken prisoner by a Bosnian Serb army unit commanded by her former lover. Serbs however have reacted angrily, arguing that the film portrays them only as villains. Quoted in a local newspaper, Belgrade Film Academy member Mirko Beokovic charged Jolie’s film was biased because it “shows (Bosnian) Muslims as civilised people and Serbs as savage peasants.”
