Rane (eng subs) [1998] Srdjan Dragojevic

http://bayimg.com/PAoIEaach

The Wounds (1998)
Rane (original title)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165546/

A dystopian Stand By Me, Serbian style, this harrowing nightmare is set in Belgrade during the Serbian campaign against non-Serbs in 1991-1997. In particular, the hatred of Croats for their collaboration with the Nazis in WW II is the basis for inflating the ancient Serbian Nationalist Psychosis into a chest pounding revenge. Ironically, the Serbs share the same wilful ignorance that inflamed the Germans in Nazi Germany. Television broadcasts spew the same paranoid glorification of violence, while pictures of Sloba are dutifully nailed over mantles.

Dusan Pekic ... Pinki
Milan Maric ... Svaba
Dragan Bjelogrlic ... Kure
Branka Katic ... Suzana
Miki Manojlovic ... Stojan
Gorica Popovic ... Nevenka
Vesna Trivalic ... Lidija
Andreja Jovanovic ... Dijabola
Nikola Kojo ... Biber
Zorka Manojlovic ... Svabina baka (as Zora Manojlovic)
Danilo Bata Stojkovic ... Komsija
Danica Maksimovic ... Ninana
Radoslav Milenkovic ... Inspektor (as Rale Milenkovic)
Nikola Pejakovic ... Kafedzija (as Nidzo Pejakovic)
Milorad Mandic ... Bilder (as Milorad Mandic-Manda)

Dusan Pekic, a scrawny, feral-faced 15-year-old with rotting teeth and no prior acting experience, plays Pinki with ferocious and disarming wit. Dragojevic, who also has practiced transactional psychotherapy, says he picked Pekic out of 5000 kids who auditioned for the film; he notes that the fledgling actors background has a certain similarity to the character he embodies. Pekic could become an Eastern European Tim Roth if he survives into adulthood in the former Yugoslavia.

Based on the true story of two teenaged Serb killers, The Wounds follows Pinki and his buddy Kraut (Milan Maric, in a restrained debut performance) as they come of age in Belgrade when Serb nationalism is running amok and the economic embargo has brought the middle-class to starvation. By the time the boys are 17-year-olds, theyve realized almost all their youthful ambitions and destroyed each other in the process.

Non-Serbs have difficulty understanding what drives the Serbian mentality, but directors like Dragojevic are helping. We are all human beings in the end, with different heredities and circumstances. Dont miss this film, but be prepared to remain pinned to the back of your seat in wide-eyed disbelief.