Earnest hatred of war boils in Jolie's 'Blood'.(In the Land of Blood and Honey)(Movie review)

Earnest hatred of war boils in Jolie's 'Blood'

FILM: IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY (FILMDISTRICT)

AVER ES MEZ FOLDJEN

Director: Angelina Jolie; Cast: Zana Marjanovic, Goran Kostic, Rade Serbedzija

Though sufficiently well made to suggest a viable career behind the camera for debutante writer-director Angelina Jolie, "In the Land of Blood and Honey" seems to spring less from artistic conviction than from an over-earnest humanitarian impulse. Centered around the sexually charged bond between two people on different sides of the Bosnian War, this alternately disturbing and titillating picture reps a dramatically misguided attempt to renew public awareness of the 1992-95 Balkan conflict. Jolie's name and do-gooder cachet should lend the film a modest commercial profile, though its horrors-of-war hand-wringing will do little to challenge the apathy of the mainstream.

There have been a number of films made about Westerners caught up in war-torn …