Reviews

This movie sucks. I don't have time to write a proper review so here are my first impressions. The plot seems to be fast-forwarded and simplified. Most of the characters are one-dimensional and their actions are at times preposterous. For example, the scenes where Kurt and Ellie fall in love with each other are rushed and bland. The synopsis suggests a moving story but I felt nothing watching the film.

Having read in the description that this is a Bulgarian movie, I was quite surprised when I realized that it's about war in Bosnia and it's many consequences ( briefly and roughly said).The writer and director Iglika Trifffonova is Bulgarian, though. The film is based on a true story - poignant, touching and cruel story about the aftermath of the war, depicted from different perspectives.The plot centers on Milorad Krstic's trial for the war crimes he committed in the Bosnian War. From there on we follow the prosecutor and the defender, both rather professional but who can not stay unaffected in this process, the witness, victims and all of their personal stories - the effort to reach a conviction and justice ("If law didn't exist as a regulator of relations between men, the world would be a horrible place," says the defence lawyer at one point), dealing with the losses of family members and current life in devastated and poor Bosnian villages. One of the topics of the film is also the complexity of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and how its work actually looks like behind the curtains. Writer and director Iglika Trifffonova mentioned in an interview that it took about 10 years of research to prepare for this film and the effort is noticeable. During the whole film I had the impression that I was watching a documentary and not a feature film - that's how authentic and convincing it is, starting with the details like red Volkswagen Golf the characters were driving in Bosnia or citing the Nobel Prize winner, writer Ivo Andric who dedicated quite a lot of his work to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Huge credit for authenticity also goes to brilliant actors. What really surprised me is the some of them are actually Bulgarians who learned Serbian! I couldn't even notice the accent during the film. Finally, don't let the previous reviews and unjustly low ratings turn you away from this film. I suppose that many of these come from the people in Serbia who are still not comfortable dealing with the War in Bosnia and with the Hague Tribunal (especially when the culprits are fellow Serbs).That's why film distributors in Serbia refused to show "The Prosecutor the Defender the Father and His Son", but luckily there are still a couple of good film festivals in Serbia..