SERBIA YEAR ZERO
SERBEE, ANNEE ZERO



France-Yugoslavia, 2001, 80 min, color, documentary

This film covers the last fifteen years of life in Yugoslavia. This period was marked by Slobodan Milosevic's rise to power, dictatorship and fall: the film gives an account of what happened as seen through the eyes of such a particular witness as an artist can be. Personal testimony alternates with the analysis of a decomposing society. Although this is a documentary, it includes excerpts from fiction movies (the artist is a film director) and TV news reports.

"A first-person glimpse into the havoc that Slobodan Milosevic wrought on Yugoslavia, this film is an amazingly honest attempt by veteran director Goran Markovic to come to terms with his life under, and after, the dictatorship. Structured as a filmed diary and lightened by humor and self-irony, the film begins on Oct. 5, 2000, the day after Milosevic's fall, as huge crowds burn the state television building in Belgrade and other symbols of the regime, then ranges back over a 15-year period encompassing Serbia's tragic recent history. The film is infused with a bitter feeling of anger and impotence, but it sidesteps pretentiousness through the many self-put-downs Markovic throws in."