In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011) on Netflix
In Sarajevo in 1992, Ajla, a Bosniak artist, and Danijel, a Serb police officer, are a couple. When war reaches the city, she is taken to a camp that Danijel commands.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb4.7/1035,011 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes58%
Trailer
Plot summary
Ajla Ekmečić, a Bosniak artist in Sarajevo, shares a home with her sister Lejla, who is raising a baby boy on her own. One evening in 1992, Ajla goes to a club and meets her boyfriend, Danijel Vukojević, a Serb police officer. Artillery fire destroys the club; Danijel is badly hurt and many patrons die. Months later, with the city besieged, the sisters prepare to flee, but the Army of Republika Srpska occupies their neighborhood before they can go. Soldiers separate the men from the women, and Ajla and several younger women are bused to a Serb camp. There the soldiers describe the life ahead and ask each woman what duties she can perform. Before a soldier turns to Ajla, the camp commander pulls her away, and he is Danijel.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- During production a false report claimed the film was about a Bosnian woman falling in love with her Serbian rapist; protests from the Bosnian Women Victims of War association led to the filming permit being revoked. Jolie denied the rumor, showed the script to Bosnia and Herzegovina's Ministry of Culture, and the permit was quickly reinstated.
- In July 2010 Serbian media magnate Željko Mitrović refused to let the producers use the sound stages and studio sets of his Pink Films International in Šimanovci; he said he admired Jolie but that she was "full of prejudice against the Serbs" and he would not be part of presenting Serbs as "eternal bad guys."
- In September 2011 Bosnian Croat author Josip Knežević, who writes as James J. Braddock, accused Jolie of plagiarising his 2007 story Slamanje duše (The Soul Shattering); he sued her, GK Films, FilmDistrict, Scout Film and producer Edin Šarkić on 2 December 2011 in Chicago.
- The cast were entirely local actors from various parts of former Yugoslavia, many of whom lived through the war; Jolie spoke with them about their experiences and tried to incorporate them into the film. It was also shot in two versions, one in English and one in Serbo-Croatian.
- Jolie's name was deliberately withheld from the casting calls and auditions for the project, and a number of cast members expressed pleasant surprise when they learned she had written the script.
