Serbia: Jollie movie about rape and love causes anger among Serbs

Belgrade, 20 Jan. (AKI) - Serbian outrage from Angelina Jollie's recently release movie "Land of Blood and Honey" has practically made the Hollywood diva a persona non grata in Bosnia and Serbia proper.

Her directing debut about a love story between a Serbian policeman and his rape victim during the 1992-95 Balkan war has received critical acclaim in the the United States, but was met by sharp criticism in Serbia and among Bosnian Serbs who consider the work as biased and anti-Serb.

The film is slated to be premiered in Serbia and Serb-populated part of Bosnia in May and Jollie has said she would like to attend the screening. The authorities turned down a request by some war veterans’ organisations to ban the film, but Jollie has been exposed to a barrage of criticism in the press and calls for a boycott to “show her she isn’t welcome”.

Jollie, who is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has further aggravated the issue when she allegedly called for the abolishment of the Bosnian Serb entity, Republika Srpska, because it was created during a genocidal the war on Muslims.

Serbian websites have been flooded with pictures showing Jollie in hard pornography acts before she became a world celebrity. The pictures are usually accompanied with comments like “once a prostitute – always a prostitute”.

Internationally acclaimed Serbian film director Emir Kusturica declined to comment on Jollie's film, calling her"propagandist," not a filmmaker.