In The Land of
Blood and Honey

Some actors making the foray into writing and directing might look to take the less controversial, easier, smaller scale path of making a lighthearted romantic comedy or a holiday-themed TV movie just in time for Christmas, but not Angelina Jolie. Her new movie, In The Land Of Blood And Honey is about one of the worst wars you never read or heard about.

Set in Sarajevo during the 1990's war in the former Yugoslavia, Zana Marjanovic stars as Ajla - a Muslim woman full of life and love. Before the war, she met a Serbian soldier, Danijel (Goran Kostic), and romance might have blossomed, but circumstance and the horrors of this conflict interrupted.

Now, with war fully engaged, and the Serbs carrying out unspeakable atrocities, Ajla has been captured, and finds herself imprisoned in the camp run by Danijel.

How could Danijel and Ajla find that love again in this place?

Can either one trust the other?

In The Land Of Blood And Honey is a daring and ambitious undertaking for a first time writer and director as Jolie disturbingly shows the audience the horrible atrocities of that war (and genocide), while Kostic and Marjanovic engage in a very delicate dance showing us the two war torn lovers divided by their loyalties, connected by their feelings for each other, and questioning each one's veracity and intentions.

Jolie's script makes the relationship between the two complicated, but Marjanovic and Kostic make us believe it. At times, you can't imagine how the two could ever be separated as they work through the worst of situations relying on each other's strength and love. Yet, they also show the conflicting feelings they have as each one seems to be using the other for another purpose.

I think Jolie plays on that delicate dance a few too many times, as we see betrayal after reconciliation after betrayal after reconciliation to the point where you can't believe we are going down this road again, but, as a director, shocks you with the brutality and human suffering playing out on screen. It's a tough movie, but it must be.

In The Land Of Blood And Honey is rated R for war violence and atrocities including rape, sexuality, nudity and language.