Review of A Serbian Film

This review contains spoilers - and descriptions of scenes depicted in Srpski Film. A baby is graphically birthed on screen by a large bald man. The mother lies prone, and pushes the baby out into his hands. He then takes down his underwear, and rapes the screaming newborn baby - on screen. A man is shown violently anally raping (onscreen) a young child - his own son, after he is injected with massive doses of a powerful sexual stimulant. The boy - presumably also drugged - lies face-down, bleeding profusely from his anus as the man continues a sustained sexual attack. Evidently, this is art. The thing that bothered me the most about Srpski Film isn't necessarily its use of deliberate shock, and taboo busting scenes designed to offend. It is the way in which Srdjan Spasojevic tries to cover his dubious tracks by passing it off as some kind of artistic political allegory about life in Serbia. I was aware of the fact that I was increasingly annoyed as I watched this film - mainly because the filmmakers use every trick in the book, and obviously some new ones to batter the viewer over the head with aggressive imagery, in order to make enough social fuss to draw in viewers. It doesn't necessarily make it a good film, although it is admittedly well shot, and well acted. It almost reminded me of seeing footage of beheadings on the internet. It's supposed to be profound in some way, but ultimately it is just irredeemable pain and destruction, and contains no social commentary at all. Realistic torture and extremely graphic rape scenes usually make a negative impact on the viewer, because they are horrific and unpleasant subjects. Using babies and children does not make it artistic, independent of your cultural origins - although some people claim that it is art. I saw another review of this film that evidently recognised genuine "art" in every single frame I, like some of the other reviewers - have happily watched horror and exploitation movies for years - but so what? It doesn't make any difference whatsoever. Sub-genres come and go, and the recent tide of shocking torture films are more akin to a test of the viewer's resolve, than the slices of entertainment they used to be. Fair enough - if you don't like them then don't watch. I am a film fan. I definitely love film. I just don't love this kind of film, or the thinly veiled attempts to disguise absolute exploitation as something profound.