This was a complicated and "controversial" topic where one man's "terrorist" is an angel of other man's mythology. Interpretations of the very historical event of assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Austro-Hungarian king-to-be, still differ. It was an excuse for the beginning of World War I. Even one hundred years after the event, the topic itself is so sensitive. Writer and director Srdjan Koljevic walks with confidence on that slippery ground. This was a result of several simple but brilliant decisions he made. Let's start with writing.
The story is essentially a reconstruction of the trial, it is based on documents. This provided a certain frame of objectivity and in that aspect the film can be used as an educational tool. The second crucial decision was to put in the centre Rudolf Zistler, the young lawyer who defended members of Young Bosnia. Zistler was court appointed, the "machine" counted on his lack of experience, but he is educated, professional, idealistic. He believes in what he does, he believes in law. That was the last thing the empire needed at that moment. Choosing Zistler as a point of balance provided seamless integration of various views into the main flow of the story. It enabled the film to dive into various intimate dramas and fully engage in the political and historical controversies of the event, but also to transcend them by asking more universal questions about freedom and acts of violence that come from the individuals and from the state. With Zistler as a central point around which everything happens the film grows into a bridge where we can actually meet with each other and see in each other our fragile humanity. This itself deserves respect.
Another great decision was to involve Gavrilo Princip in the story only where it was very necessary. In a way, Koljevic stays away from him. There are two giants of this film, Zistler and Princip. Zitsler provides film with complex perspectives, while nineteen year old Princip is idealistic, dark and hot-headed, he is bigger than history and the real story about him is told better through everything around him.
As a director, Koljevic sticks to a classical approach underlined with finely dosed amounts of lyricism. You can call it "good old BBC" style, you can compare it to Bruce Beresford or even Hugh Hudson, but it is a "middle of the road" approach that seemingly doesn't bring something new. Well, when The Iliad and the Odyssey were shaped all those stories were already known in detail by the audience, Homer didn't invent them, they were part of history or mythology. Poor Homer didn't even invent the style, it had to be the Greek hexameter. He "only" had some freedom in ordering events and charging them with emotions and ideas... and multiple points of view. Koljevic chose his limitations wisely, "conservative" directing style worked perfectly. The pace of the film is seemingly slow, but it keeps you on your toes. You are drown into a network of intimate dramas while you never loose a view of whirlpool of history. This is a rock solid film.
P.S. Somebody said that this movie feels as a work done for television. I guess that was not meant to be a compliment. It didn't feel like "that TV" to me. On the contrary. I don't know what is his secret regarding work with actors. Nikola Rakocevic as Zistler is brilliant, but so are all the other actors in this film.
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