The film “The Forest King” by Goran Radovanovic about the NATO bombing in Serbia
As part of the Main Competition, the film “The Forest King” (2024) by Serbian director Goran Radovanovic was shown at the Moscow International Film Festival. Starring: Jaksha Prpic, Milos Bikovic (in voicemail messages), Sara Klimoska. The Status Symbol magazine publishes a review of the film “The King of the Forest”.
Milos Bikovich at the Moscow Film Festival
A graduate of the history of art department at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Belgrade, Radovanovic has come a long way in cinema: he was a film critic, producer, made documentaries, and his film “The Enclave” (2015) was nominated for an Oscar from Serbia, but was not nominated.
Once again in his career, Radovanovic brings up the tragedy of the Serbs at the end of the 20th century, when the country was bombed by NATO allied forces. The film begins with a reading of Goethe's poem "The Forest King", and the entire storyline seems to echo the work of the great German. A mother is trying to protect her schoolboy son from the horrors of war. The boy is extremely sensitive and takes tragedy to heart.
Who gallops, who rushes under the cold darkness?
The rider is late, his young son is with him.
The little one came close to his father, shuddering;
The old man hugs him, holds him and warms him...
“Child, I was captivated by your beauty:
Willy-nilly or willy-nilly, you will be mine.” —
“Darling, the forest king wants to catch up with us;
Here it is: I’m stuffy, it’s hard for me to breathe.”
The timid rider does not gallop, he flies;
The baby yearns, the baby cries;
The rider is urging on, the rider has galloped...
In his hands lay a dead baby.
— an excerpt from the poem “The Forest King” by Goethe, translated by V. A. Zhukovsky
The main character, the boy Savva (Sava in the film), experiences his first love for Milica. However, fate separates the schoolchildren. The father-priest, wishing to save his daughter, takes them away from the bombings, and he himself remains in Belgrade to conduct church services and confess. Even in the symbolism of the names of the main characters, Radovanovic seemed to have laid down the symbolism: Saint Sava is the first archbishop of Serbia and one of the most revered saints in the country. Milica is a three-year-old girl who died in Belgrade during the NATO cluster munition bombing. Symbolically, even the Forest King is the very same NATO allied forces that took away little Savva’s childhood and even his health, however, all wars end in peace, and the film has a bright ending.
The alternation of close-ups and long shots, a shaky camera and cold color correction of the film perfectly convey the military atmosphere of those years. The film is nominated for the Golden Saint George - the main prize of the Moscow Film Festival.
Photos: press service of the Moscow International Film Festival
