Die Verarbeitung der Jugoslawienkriege im serbischen Film

The common view of the war in former Yugoslavia, that the Balkans are a powder keg that explodes every few decades and that no one can change this, would be too simplistic an explanation. Yugoslavia was a country with a very tense and complex foundation, with emotional ties to both the Balkans and Western Europe. Five countries, many different minorities, three religions, four languages, two alphabets. Nevertheless, the causes of the war, particularly in Bosnia, need to be examined in a nuanced way. What stories have films from Serbia told since the outbreak of the civil war that led to the dissolution of the multi-ethnic state of Yugoslavia? Since the mid-1990s, both young and older filmmakers have begun to process the collapse of their homeland. These films often employ a cinematic language that is typically labeled as 'typical Balkan' when the West discusses Yugoslav cinema. Director Emir Kusturica is internationally one of the most prominent representatives of this genre. 'Underground', an epic about the war in Yugoslavia, is his response, as he emphasized in interviews. The film 'Pretty Village, Pretty Flame', by Srdjan Dragojevic, which received mixed reviews from critics, also garnered significant attention from Western Europe and the USA.