Review: Holocaust drama 'Dara of Jasenovac' regrettably aims for settling scores : vimarsana.com

Review: Holocaust drama 'Dara of Jasenovac' regrettably aims for settling scores
Robert Abele
© (Aaleksandar Letic / 101 Studios)
Biljana Čekić in the movie "Dara of Jasenovac." (Aaleksandar Letic / 101 Studios)
The veneer of historical reality is thin on the baldly nativist and manipulative Serbian World War II movie “Dara of Jasenovac,” a slickly made extermination camp drama about child peril that will test the patience of even the most rigorous students of cultural representations of genocide.
Fascist Croatia under the terror-driven Ustase government was indeed a nightmarish puppet regime of the Axis powers, and its massive Jasenovac complex of camps was one more hell on Earth for Jews. But what director Peter Antonijević’s epic of barbarism and sentimentality wants to drive home is that the annihilation of ethnic Serbs was the real focus, and that children got their own camp. If only it didn’t smack of scoring points in a longstanding regional feud. When there’s a scene in which the visiting Nazi bristles at the display of one-on-one sadism toward Serbian prisoners from his crisply uniformed Croatian hosts (which include incestuous brother and sister officers), you know you’re in agenda territory.

Related Keywords

, Jasenovac , Sisacko Moslavacka , Croatia , Los Angeles , California , United States , Serbian , Serbs , Croatian , Dara Biljana , Peter Antonijevi , Los Angeles Times , Aaleksandar Letic , Serbian World War , குரோஷியா , லாஸ் ஏஞ்சல்ஸ் , கலிஃபோர்னியா , ஒன்றுபட்டது மாநிலங்களில் , சேர்பியன் , குரோஷியன் , தாரா பில்ஜனா , லாஸ் ஏஞ்சல்ஸ் முறை , சேர்பியன் உலகம் போர் ,