Have you been following along with the saga of A Serbian Film, which was given a limited release yesterday at Cinema Village? Because people are saying that it makes The Human Centipede seem like a lighthearted comedy. With its graphic treatment of rape, murder, torture, and necrophilia, could A Serbian Film be the real life version of The Ring?
You can read the wiki entry if you want to get an idea of the scope of disgusting things in the movie; you can also browse through a guide to the most disturbing scenes in the film here (suffice to say, very NFSW). The director, Srdjan Spasojevic, told the Times that the movie is a metaphor for modern times, in which characters in a dehumanized world must “rape or be raped.” That attitude has already led one prosecutor in Spain to hit the Sitges film festival that showed the movie with child pornography charges.
Reviewing the movie last summer for Pajiba, Brian Prisco felt there was a powerful story under the surface, but he was thoroughly scathing about everything else: “Most people shouldn’t watch a film that even mentions the words ‘newborn porn’ (and God willing that two-word phrase broke your soul as much as typing it hurt mine), and I sincerely hope you stay away from this film. As much of an advocate of free speech and anticensorship, I sincerely hope Blockbuster and Netflix refuse to carry this film.” In fact, that's already started to happen: in England, after a single complaint, Northampton police have seized copies of the movie from Blockbusters.
At least A.O. Scott can see one silver lining to the whole controversy: at the very end of his review of the movie yesterday, he writes, "A Serbian Film is rated NC-17 (No one 17 or under admitted). The best part of this movie may be that members of the M.P.A.A. ratings board had to sit through it."
