Svjedoci (2003)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Vinko Bresan

Writers:

Vinko Bresan (writer)
Jurica Pavicic (book)

Release Date:

8 April 2005 (Austria)

Genre:

Drama | War

Awards:

7 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Leon Lucev	...	Kreso
Alma Prica	...	Novinarka
Mirjana Karanovic	...	Majka
Drazen Kuhn	...	Barbir
Kresimir Mikic	...	Josko
Marinko Prga	...	Vojo
Bojan Navojec	...	Baric
Ljubomir Kerekes	...	Dr. Matic
Predrag 'Predjo' Vusovic	...	Ljubo
Tarik Filipovic	...	Javni tuzitelj
Rene Bitorajac	...	Albanac
Ivo Gregurevic	...	Otac
Vanja Drach	...	Penzioner
Helena Buljan	...	Susjeda
Sreten Mokrovic	...	Doktor

Also Known As:

Ovce od gipsa (Croatia)
Witnesses (International: English title)

Runtime:

Croatia:90 min | Canada:84 min (Ontario)

Country:

Croatia

Language:

Serbo-Croatian | Croatian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Karlovac, Croatia

Company:

Interfilm

Nothing specially. It would be maybe better if he'd followed the linear narrative.

Nothing specially at all. This film film would be maybe better if he'd (Bresan) followed the linear narrative. But he's chosen instead to look at a series of events as if they were laid out on a map; he'll tap his pointer here, then there and revisit a handful of spots too many times far too long with too little new information gained to make the going back again worthwhile. When done well, when done for a reason better than simply for novelty's sake (particularly now that the novelty has well worn off), disjointed narratives can do wonders; but if they don't, they can literally tear what might otherwise have been a fine film to pieces.

There are individual scenes and set-ups that are o.k. in their evocation of the everyday effects of the war between the Croats and the Serbs in the early 90s, the war that moved like an infection from one piece of former Yugoslavia to the next throughout that decade. But each time we go back to the scene of the crime, hear the same siren and the same lines from the investigator, that power is defused and it takes too long for an 88-minute film for it to accumulate again (only, of course, to be defused again a few minutes later).