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==Critical response==
==Critical response==
[[Serbs|Serbian]] historian and scientific adviser at the Institute for modern history in [[Belgrade]], professor Predrag J. Marković described the film as "very important" and that "the film talks with a language understandable to young Westerners", as well as that "the author, with a fine irony, distances himself in regards to the local figures and presents a very complex problem, evading self-justification that many domestic directors are prone to."<ref>[http://dnevnenovine.rs/2012_/saopstenja/2012/02/tezina-lanaca/ Težina lanaca na Fakultetu za medije i komunikacije] Dnevne Novine</ref>
[[Serbs|Serbian]] historian and scientific adviser at the Institute for Modern History in [[Belgrade]], professor Predrag J. Marković described the film as "very important" and that "the film talks with a language understandable to young Westerners", as well as that "the author, with a fine irony, distances himself in regards to the local figures and presents a very complex problem, evading self-justification that many domestic directors are prone to."<ref>[http://dnevnenovine.rs/2012_/saopstenja/2012/02/tezina-lanaca/ Težina lanaca na Fakultetu za medije i komunikacije] Dnevne Novine</ref>


Konstantin Kilibarda, of [[McMaster University]], described the movie as a "misguided attempt to give an alternative account of the wars in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s", and that the author "attempts to minimize, deflect and distort the well established role of Serbian leaders in the former Yugoslavia in pursuing a militant nationalist program since the late 1980s, that sought to reclaim Kosovo through the imposition of martial law, as well as create 'ethnically compact' territories that would link Serbs in Serbia with Serbian minorities in Bosnia and Croatia".<ref name="Kilibarda">{{cite web | url=http://politicsrespun.org/2012/02/undermining-solidarity-in-the-balkans-reviewing-boris-malagurskis-the-weight-of-chains/ | title=Reviewing The Weight of Chains - Konstantin Kilibarda | accessdate=3 September 2014}}</ref>
Konstantin Kilibarda, of [[McMaster University]], described the movie as a "misguided attempt to give an alternative account of the wars in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s", and that the author "attempts to minimize, deflect and distort the well established role of Serbian leaders in the former Yugoslavia in pursuing a militant nationalist program since the late 1980s, that sought to reclaim Kosovo through the imposition of martial law, as well as create 'ethnically compact' territories that would link Serbs in Serbia with Serbian minorities in Bosnia and Croatia".<ref name="Kilibarda">{{cite web | url=http://politicsrespun.org/2012/02/undermining-solidarity-in-the-balkans-reviewing-boris-malagurskis-the-weight-of-chains/ | title=Reviewing The Weight of Chains - Konstantin Kilibarda | accessdate=3 September 2014}}</ref>

Revision as of 11:20, 3 October 2014

The Weight of Chains
Official poster
Directed byBoris Malagurski
Screenplay byBoris Malagurski
Produced byBoris Malagurski
StarringMichel Chossudovsky
Lewis MacKenzie
Vlade Divac
John Perkins
Michael Parenti
Scott Taylor
Jože Mencinger
James Bissett
John Bosnitch
Branislav Lečić
Škabo
Srđa Trifković
Slobodan Samardžić
Edited byBoris Malagurski
Marko Janković
Anastasia Trofimova
Music byNovo Sekulović
Jasna Đuran
Kevin Macleod
Production
company
Malagurski Cinema
Distributed byJourneyman Pictures (Worldwide)
Release dates
  • December 17, 2010 (2010-12-17) (Australia)
  • February 19, 2011 (2011-02-19) (Canada)
Running time
124 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguagesEnglish, Serbian
Budget$21,850

The Weight of Chains is a 2010 Canadian[1] documentary film directed by Boris Malagurski.[2] The film discusses the role that the United States, NATO, and the European Union played in the breakup of Yugoslavia. It was released on December 17, 2010. Since 2012, the film has been distributed by Journeyman Pictures.[3]

Production

The film was sponsored by Serbian diaspora community organizations, the Centre for Research on Globalization, and private individuals amongst others.[2][4][5]

The film uses re-compiled archival footage extensively,[6] which was provided at no cost by Radio Television Serbia.[7]

Synopsis

The film provides a background history of Yugoslavia, from the medieval Battle of Kosovo to the 1912 incorporation of Kosovo into the Kingdom of Serbia and then to the formation of Josip Broz Tito's Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after World War II. It discusses the persecution of Kosovo Serbs after World War II, as well as alleged plans by Nationalists to create an ethnically pure Greater Albania.

The film claims that U.S. interests in Yugoslavia promoted "a market-oriented Yugoslav economic structure" through the National Endowment for Democracy, and the G17 Plus as part of a policy of "privatization through liquidation" which increased ethnic tensions in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Western nations, both openly diplomatically and covertly militarily, supported separatist groups and encouraged conflict so that NATO could be installed as peacekeepers for their own interests. A cigarette factory that was bombed by NATO was later bought by Philip Morris, which the film presents as an example, that the purpose of the war was economic colonization of the country.

The film claims Yugoslavian leaders such as Slobodan Milošević, Franjo Tuđman and Alija Izetbegović were focused only on power, and not on the well being of their people and they, along with the local media, mobilized public opinion in favor of conflict. These tensions led to the 1990s Yugoslav Wars, culminating in the Kosovo war. The film includes interviews with the widows of Josip Reihl-Kir (former police chief of Osijek, Croatia), and the widow of Milan Levar along with the story of Srđan Aleksić, who saved a Muslim man from an attack by soldiers of the VRS. Footage that has never been released before is also presented in the film, most notably that of a village in Bosnia where Serbs and Bosniaks lived together up to the end of the Bosnian war, but were then separated – with Serbs saying goodbye to their Muslim neighbours, who decided to collectively leave to their own entity, in tears.

In the aftermath, the policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank further evidenced that Eastern European states were never meant to be colleagues and equals with the European Union and the West, but rather were only markets for Western industrial goods and sources of cheap labor. The increase in the debt of the former Yugoslav countries is covered to reveal how much tax money each citizen of the former Yugoslavia would have to pay in order for their countries to be debt free.

Malagurski's address at the Belgrade premiere of the film at the BELDOCS Film Festival at the Kinoteka theater in 2011

Interviewees

The interviewees in the film include:[5][8][9]

Festival screenings and selections

The film was due to be shown in the 2011 programme of Serbian film director Emir Kusturica at the Küstendorf Film and Music Festival. However two days before the festival began, the film was removed from the schedule without explanation.[28]

Critical response

Serbian historian and scientific adviser at the Institute for Modern History in Belgrade, professor Predrag J. Marković described the film as "very important" and that "the film talks with a language understandable to young Westerners", as well as that "the author, with a fine irony, distances himself in regards to the local figures and presents a very complex problem, evading self-justification that many domestic directors are prone to."[29]

Konstantin Kilibarda, of McMaster University, described the movie as a "misguided attempt to give an alternative account of the wars in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s", and that the author "attempts to minimize, deflect and distort the well established role of Serbian leaders in the former Yugoslavia in pursuing a militant nationalist program since the late 1980s, that sought to reclaim Kosovo through the imposition of martial law, as well as create 'ethnically compact' territories that would link Serbs in Serbia with Serbian minorities in Bosnia and Croatia".[30]

Vladislav Panov of Pečat magazine, wrote that the film is "very convincing" and that "Malagurski covered the facts and scenes in the film just as Michael Moore does in his documentaries. And just like that film maker, obviously Boris' main role model, Malagurski located the source of evil in Washington and big American corporations which had come to buy us out after instructing and preparing 'irrational slaughters of primitive Balkan peoples' ", but added that "Boris bravely detected the main domestic culprits in collecting the cream for foreigners as well".[31]

Montenegrin artist Milica Kankaraš, noted that "Malagurski created one of the best documentaries on the Yugoslav civil war", and that "even though the film is disputed, it should be a part of the obligatory curriculum for high school students, as it's pointless to read fiction without being aware of their country's most recent past."[32]

The Weight of Chains 2

A trailer was made for a sequel, The Weight of Chains 2, but, as of June 2014, that film has not yet been released.[33]

References

  1. ^ Official Web Site: "The Weight of Chains is a Canadian documentary film",
  2. ^ a b Culture: "Good people in evil times" Politika Newspaper | August 28, 2010
  3. ^ Journeyman Pictures : Documentaries Serbia – The Weight of Chains – 124 min 30 sec
  4. ^ "Weight of Chains – Sponsors". Malagurski Cinema. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012.
  5. ^ a b Okovi raspada bivše Jugoslavije Vesti, April 1, 2011
  6. ^ "Boris Malagurski među nama". NSPM. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
  7. ^ "Entangled in Neocolonialism". Interview with Gregory Elich (interviewee in the film). Monthly Review. Retrieved September 11, 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  8. ^ New documentary by the Serbian Michael Moore Press
  9. ^ a b c "The Interviewees". Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  10. ^ "Epilogue about Srdjan Aleksic". E-novine. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  11. ^ "Milošević calls ex-Canadian Ambassador". IWPR.
  12. ^ "Like the old Yugoslavia it recreates, theme park could go under". Boston Globe.
  13. ^ "In ex-Yugoslavia, Tito-era nostalgia". NY Times.
  14. ^ "Popović et al. CIS" (PDF). ICTY.
  15. ^ "Popovic et al.-"Srebrenica"". SENSE Tribunal.
  16. ^ "Stakic-"Prijedor"". SENSE Tribunal.
  17. ^ Težina lanaca: Kritika uloge NATO, EU i SAD i raspadu SFRJ BELDOCS 2011
  18. ^ Festival of documentary film at Novi Sad Cultural Centre 021.rs
  19. ^ Best films of "Beldocs" Dnevnik newspaper [dead link]
  20. ^ The Weight of Chains in Novi Sad Radio Television Vojvodina
  21. ^ "BELDOCS" on a tour throughout Serbia B92.net
  22. ^ [1] Raindance Film Festival 2011
  23. ^ Radio Television Serbia | The Weight of Chains in London[dead link]
  24. ^ [2] Raindance Balkan Cinema Strand 2011
  25. ^ [3] MIFF Schedule, End of World Showcase
  26. ^ "El peso de las cadenas" Festival Internacional Del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano
  27. ^ Ann Arbor Docu Fest: The Weight of Chains at Cafe Ambrosia accessed Aug 23, 2014
  28. ^ "Okovi raspada bivše Jugoslavije" (in Serbian; "Shackles of the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia", by Gorana Gligorević, Vesti Online, 1 April 2011, accessed May 25, 2011
  29. ^ Težina lanaca na Fakultetu za medije i komunikacije Dnevne Novine
  30. ^ "Reviewing The Weight of Chains - Konstantin Kilibarda". Retrieved September 3, 2014.
  31. ^ Film o demokratskom ropstvu Pecat Magazine online
  32. ^ Čisto ponižavanje Zrcalo.me
  33. ^ Nema povlačenja, nema predaje Politika