Savior
by Jasa Petrovic Slovjanski
July 3, 2002
In 1998, Hell experienced a bitter snowstorm. The demon children were
overjoyed to hear that the schools were closed due to the massive snow
drifts. The cause of this strange meteorological anomaly? Oliver Stone had
finally produced a good movie. In fact it was a great movie, flying in the
face of the mainstream propaganda that continues today. I am referring to
the propaganda of the Bosnian war, the most insidious slander since the
Holocaust. The movie is called "Savior."
Before getting to the meat of my review, let me explain a few things to the
reader. There have been several movies about the Bosnian war in the past
decade. Some of them are depressing dramas such as "Shot through the Heart"
and "Welcome to Sarajevo," and then others have been idiotic action movies
such as the vomit-inducing "Behind Enemy Lines" or "The Peacemaker."
Occasionally we find propaganda messages imbedded in movies like "The Rock,"
or television programs such as JAG. What binds all of these titles together is the fact that they are blatant anti-Serb propaganda, with virtually no basis in facts. Most of them claim to be "based on a true story," but
sometimes when that true story doesn't fit the propaganda mold, it is
altered. In "Welcome to Sarajevo," we see the plight of a Muslim girl who has
lost her parents to the bloody civil war. What we don't see is that in the
true story this movie claims to be based on, the orphan girl was actually a
Serb. The news media have also been guilty of switching victims'
nationalities during the war to vilify Serbs. In "Behind Enemy Lines," we
are seeing the story of Scott O'Grady (which in itself is highly
questionable) being "Con-Aired" into an action film. The amount of
anti-Serb propaganda varies from title to title, but the message is always
the same: The Serbs started the war, the Serbs commit genocide, the Serbs
are the bad guys.
"Savior" breaks the mold entirely. It was directed by a Serb, Pedrag
Antonijevic. And in case you were wondering, this movie is also based on a
true story. Most of the movie was filmed in Serbia proper and Montenegro,
showing off the scenic countryside of the Balkan region. The only actor
most Americans will recognize is Dennis Quaid; the rest of the cast is
almost all Yugoslav. If you are wondering about non-whites in this film,
rest assured they are nothing but background in certain scenes. No sassy
black sidekick in this film. Now THAT'S based on a true story!
The movie begins in 1987. Quaid plays Joshua Rose, an American official
working with the U.S. embassy in Paris. While his position is never stated
clearly, it becomes apparent during the beginning that he works
with military intelligence. We see Rose meet his family in a cafe across
the street from the embassy, and it is established that his job has
estranged him from his wife and young son. Peter (Stellan Skarsgard), one of
Rose's associates, arrives in the cafe to inform Rose that the embassy has
received another bomb threat from Islamic militants. Thus Rose cannot take
his son to the movies as he promised. As Rose and Peter are crossing the
street to the embassy, there is a huge explosion. Our protagonist turns
around to see that the cafe in which his family was sitting is now a
burning, gaping hole.
At this point we should note how this American deals with terror. Does he
start telling people how proud he is to be an American? Does he start
waving an American flag? Does he go into some speech about how terrible it
is that Arabs hate our freedom? The answer is a refreshing no. Standing
over the caskets of his loved ones, Rose is assured by the government
officials that the culprits will be brought to justice. "Just walk down the
street to the nearest Mosque," Rose replies. He clearly does not believe
that diversity is good for France, and he certainly doesn't believe that
Islam is really a peaceful religion. Rose decides to take his own advice;
he storms into a Mosque and begins popping Muslims with his Beretta as they
kneel in prayer. He stumbles out of the Mosque, dazed as Peter runs up
and realizes what just happens. Then we see a wounded Arab emerge from the
doorway with a revolver, only to be shot by Rose's colleague. I don't know
about French gun control laws of that era, but I am inclined to believe that
the fact that the Arab had a gun suggests that Rose's suspicions were
correct. In order to escape capture, the two enlist in the French Foreign
Legion.
In the Legion, Joshua Rose takes on the nom de guerre Guy. We never know
his surname after that. We do not see much of Guy in the Legion, except in
a short conversation with Peter while on duty in Africa. They are nearing
the end of their enlistment contract (which is actually five years, not six
as said in the movie), and they know that they cannot return to normal
society. Guy does not want to remain in the Legion, but he wants to fight
in a "war he can believe in." Cut to 1993, as the Bosnian war is in full
swing. We see the view from Guy's sniper scope as he guards a barricaded
bridge. Now we no longer see the Bosnian Muslims as the poor starving
victims searching for water. Instead they are dressed in ragtag fatigues
and armed with assault rifles. Guy picks several of them off, and the
remaining soldiers narrowly escapes with his life. Peter shows up and shows
his lack of enthusiasm for the war; he informs Guy that he is going to
leave. The movie then skips forward three months. This time it is not a
Muslim soldier crossing the bridge, but rather a Muslim boy of about 14-16
years. He is trying to retrieve a goat which has managed to climb over the
barricade. Once the boy has crossed the barricade himself, Guy pulls the
trigger and we see the boy's body hit the water.
At this point it is necessary to explain a vital technique that is used in
this movie. The movie starts out almost being anti-Serb, and we see what
could be considered a Serbian atrocity or two. But after these scenes, the
director shows us the motivation behind those actions. Later that day, Guy
finds the boy's body washed up on the shore, and remembers why he had to
kill him. We are taken to a flashback where we see Peter manning a machine
gun nest on the Serbian side of the bridge. This scene takes place right
after Peter and Guy's conversation I mentioned in the above paragraph.
Peter tells Guy not to fire on the Muslim girl crossing the bridge, and
offers the girl some gum. With an innocent smile, the girl hurls a grenade
at Peter, killing him. And that's why kids can't cross the bridge, you see?
This flashback occurs during a scene in which Guy and his new comrade
Goran are clearing out a Muslim village during a truce. Goran is portrayed
as a thug at first, actually cutting the finger off an elderly Muslim women
just to get her ring. But right after this scene we see a human side of
Goran that we never see applied to Germans in WWII films. Minutes later we
are treated to a scene of bitter reality; the Muslims breaking yet another
cease-fire. This was a common occurrence in the war and led to most Muslim
victories. Clinton supplied the rest.
Goran's bigotries are truly shown when he finds that a neighbor girl (Natasa
Ninkovic, recently released from a Muslim prison, is pregnant. While Guy
knows the girl was obviously raped, Goran is too angry to listen to reason.
He begins beating and cursing the girl who tells him the baby is coming. He
then prepares to kill the baby as it emerges. Guy is compelled to shoot
Goran in order to save the baby and the girl, and in doing this he takes on
a new set of problems. In case the reader is wondering, Serbs and Bosnian
Muslims are essentially the same people by blood, so this is not
miscegenation. The baby is clearly a white baby, and a beautiful one too.
As Guy drives the girl home, he cannot understand the contempt the girl has
for her own daughter. As the movie goes on, both characters go through a
major change. The girl is kicked out by her own father, and Guy tries to
get her out of the country to some place "normal."
At this point I will cut the plot summary short in order to discuss the
finer points of this film. The strongest attribute is the fact that it is
an accurate presentation of the war. We see the girl's village after being
attacked by Muslims. The local priest is hanging from what used to be a
church. Bodies are stacked up in piles, and we see the Muslims leading away
civilian prisoners. Among the prisoners is the girl's family. Later we see
the atrocities committed by the HVO against Serbs and Muslims. The HVO was
a Croatian militia organization, and at this point in the war the Croats
were not on the side of the Muslims. One of the Croatian officers goes
about his morning shaving routine while one of his men executes his captives
one by one with a sledge hammer. The rest are shot down as they make a
futile attempt at escape. This harkens back to WWII, where Croatian Ustase
committed a number of atrocities so vile that the Germans and Italians
desperately tried to distance themselves from the Ustasa regime.
I should warn the reader that this is one of the saddest movies one can
watch, but it is so powerful and accurate that it needs to be seen. Titles
like "Behind Enemy Lines" are an insult to intelligence, and "No Man's Land" is
a sickening piece of pro-Muslim propaganda. As long as the Jew is in
control, my guess is that we will never see an accurate portrayal of the
Yugoslav civil wars. I am still dreading the arrival of idiotic films based
on the Kosovo conflict. "Savior" can be found at any Blockbuster store, and
it can even be found for sale at Best Buy and Borders. I recommend buying
the movie, since there are so few movies worth purchasing. This is the type
of movie you want in your personal library. The soundtrack of the movie is
also superb, and I am very fond of the local music that is played in the
film. I am referring to the Serbian folk song "Rasti Moj Zelen Bore," and
the Macedonian song "Zajdi, Zajdi." The use of Serbian actors gave the
characters a sense of realism that is lost in a wholly American film such as
"Shot through the Heart." My only complaint was that some weapons are
inaccurately portrayed (e.g. Guy's sniper rifle is Galil), but military
nitpicking is ingrained in my head.
I command thee to go out and at least rent "Savior." Thou shalt listen to CNN
and the rest of the mainstream media no longer! "Savior" is not a pro-Serbian
film, in the sense that it shows all sides accurately. The viewer must
compare the methods and nature of the various factions' crimes to decide for
himself. Yet I am confident that most people would side with the
Serbs after watching "Savior." Even Goran is understandable when one
considers what drove him to be such a fanatic. Nothing is ever mentioned
about it in the movie, but this author can't help but wonder if the girl in
the film could have been Goran's fiancé or girlfriend. What reaction would
you have to your enemy if you knew that someone close to you was being raped
in a prison camp? While it did not have a big budget, the movie is
groundbreaking because it shows things that the western media covered up:
Arab Mujahedeen fighting for the Muslims; Muslims breaking cease-fires;
Muslims using children as weapons; etc. You owe it to yourself to go out
and see this movie. For the memory of thousands of innocent Serbs sentenced
to death by our nation's foreign policy, recommend it to as many people as
possible.
S verom u boga, Sloboda ili Smrt! -- historical motto of Serbian Chetniks
jp_slovjanski@hotmail.com
JASA PETROVIC SLOVJANSKI
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