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It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

''Pretty village, pretty flame'' is war movie with anti war message. It's story about 2 childhood friends separated by war and forced by their religion and nationalism to fight against each other. This movie portrays war as it is, and it delivers universal massage about war.When it came out in 90's this movie was banned by regime in Serbia because it was labeled as anti-Serbian. At same time it was being labeled in other ex-Yugoslavia countries as pro-Serbian and it was getting banned in Croatia and Bosnia. This movie is at moments hard to watch, and for people that aren't familiar with ex-Yugoslavia situation in 90's some things might be confusing, but overall this movie is a real masterpiece of Balkan cinematography.

My opinion is that this movie is one of the strongest anti-war drama ever made. Only problem that comes is that you must be Serb to completely understand this movie. The thing is, every single second of the movie, every single word, the soundtrack are the row of symbols that creates a giant and complex puzzle made of historical events, way of living on Balkans, way of painting the portraits that will show you and let you to understand how did the war in Bosnia happened.Movie is retrospective story, based on the true events. It is actually a row of memories of the two Bosnian Serb soldiers who survived few horrific days, trapped in tunnel, during the war in 1991. The tunnel was occupied by Muslim soldiers and with that fact we get to the first problem that was later, after the movie was finished and played in cinemas, used as main weapon of critics, saying that Serbs just want to show that they were victims in war.For everyone, who will watch this movie, and who doesn't live on Balkans, I'll try to explain some basic facts of the movie, and also, I'll try not to spoil your enjoying.This movie is a story of all consequences that war brings us. It is universal story of war, showing some basic facts that are similar to all wars, but in the same time, movie describes some things that are connected only with war in Bosnia.The story starts in hospital, where the wounded are transported from the battlefield. There, the director introduce us with two characters. Two soldiers who survived the tunnel. Milan and Proffesor, both Bosnian Serbs. From their perspective, dialogs and memories,story leads us back, in Milan's childhood, where we can see his relationship with his friend Halil ( who is Bosnian Muslim ). Later, when the war begins, these two friend will be on different side of the tunnel. Halil, in the squad of the Muslim who occupied it, Milan with the Serbian squad who was trapped in the tunnel. Then the story goes on, introducing us , with whole Serbian soldiers and one American journalist who got there accidentally , trapped in tunnel. Every soldier has his own reasons that will make you understand, why did they checked in Serbian army, and why did they wanted to go on the battlefield. Than, the story goes straight, showing us events in the tunnel ( memories ) and the happenings in Belgrade ( real time ), during the protests against Slobodan Milosevic's regime ( one of the major facts that explains directors anti-war point ). Story goes on with shocking scenes, melancholic atmosphere, and tragic events that will lead to the final conflict. Did war changed Milan? His final confrontation is wounded Muslim prisoner of war who lies on the same floor of the hospital as he does. Did Milan became a dog of war?Story was written by journalist Vanja Bulic, who was a host of TV drama-show called "Biseri" ( in English "The Pearls" ). Milan, the main character in the movie, is actually a guy who was a guest in that show. He told Vanja his shocking story and than the screenplay was written, off course, with some artistic changes.This movie is grotesque, shocking, drama about one time on Balkans. About fall of former Yugoslavia. About mentality of the all people who lived in it. Check the lyrics in soundtrack, listen closely every word in dialogs, follow the symbols... I hope you will understand that there is no winner, there is no loser. Point is always the same, there is only destruction, there is only just suffering.

Don't let the low marks take you away from this masterpiece - look at stars assignment, and you will get the picture.If you expect black and white war movie, forget it. For me, this is by far most objective movie about civil war(s) in ex-Yugoslavia, better then Bosnian (good) "No man's land" and Macedonian (masterpiece) "Before the rain". At the beginning, you will see Serbs burning villages (that explain title of movie) and killing people, but, from middle to end, you will see completely same behavior done by Bosnian Muslims. Brilliance of this movie is because it shows you why this war was so bloody and why it is so hard to have peace and reconciliation after all. Every killing, every murder, has story behind, and movie gather them all. You have pure communist (Bata Zivojinovic) against his fellow officer, you have two best friends (Nikola Bjelogrlic - Bosnian Serb, Nikola Pejakovic - Bosnian Muslim) against each other, you have urban freaks, you have junkies, you have educated teacher, you have everything you need. Every one of them has his own reason to be there, but at the end, they all end completely empty, with only pure hate inside.I suppose that some things from movie will be hard to get if you are not from Balkan. For example, Index (that's name of the bend) song that Nikola Kojo sing using gun as mice, was one of the greatest classics in ex-Yu (and lyrics fit the scene perfectly: "And tonight, if she listen, let her hear the pain..."). Some sentences are very hard to translate. For example, in joke scene, when Zoran Cvijanovic (junkie) want to insult Bosnian Muslim soldiers, he tell them joke that begins with "Check this out: Blonde, I mean Fata the Blonde, come to party..." Fata is Muslim name, but is obvious that joke was first intended as joke abound blonde woman, but he upgraded it in the moment. Also, in one scene you can see Serbian skinheads that are kicking traffic table with "Zagreb" (Croatian capital) written on it. Two are holding the table, one is hitting it by the head, and they are all singing "We f*cked Tajci! We f*cked Tajci!" Tajci was ex-Yu singer from Croatia that represented country on Eurovision competition few years before war started. Also, most of the scenes are extremely dark and funny at the same time, but that's Serbian humor in general.Even without this small hints, movie still remain pure classic, to me comparable only with "Apocalypse now" and "Platoon" by its objectivity. It is very fast movie, easy to watch and hard to understand, as Balkan always was. I hope you will enjoy.

The movie would be one of the greatest that came from former Yugoslavia if the events described in it would be fiction. Since the war and killings are historical facts, this attempt to equalize victims and killers is just another Serbian nationalist's propaganda material. At least, unlike idiotic presentation called 'Underground', it was not made only of hate towards others. The story of two childhood friends (Serb and Bosnian) that end up on opposite sides in aggression on Bosnia is very unrealistic. Director and writer obviously have never been to Bosnia and their vision of people and their relationships is most probably based on communist pamphlets from the times of Yugoslavia that speak of "Bratstvo i Jedinstvo" (Brotherhood and Unity) among all different nations under one red flag. Movie smartly shows that there were atrocities by Serbian aggressor army - since this is undeniable fact recorded by so many western sources. On the other hand, in the spirit of the worst Serbian nationalists, it tries to justify the crimes by implying that the Bosnians who defended their country from outside aggression were the same as those who attacked the country. All in all, do not poison your mind with this garbage.