15/05 - CANNES DAILY ON ORDINARY PEOPLE

ENTERTAINMENT / CANNES FILM FESTIVAL / CANNES DAILY / 15/05 - CANNES DAILY ON ORDINARY PEOPLE

15 May 2009 — You don't need the back-story to understand why Ordinary People, writer-director Vladimir Perisic's first film, is so profoundly important. You don't need to know anything about the July 1995 massacre in Srebrenica, where Bosnian Serb soldiers murdered thousands of unarmed men and boys. Ordinary People makes a universal statement about circumstances that can lead ordinary people to commit such extraordinary crimes. Without artifice, without a single note of music on the soundtrack, this film ponders what happens or doesn't happen in the mind of a soldier who participates in genocide.All the action in Ordinary People happens during one long day. Dzoni (Relja Popovic) is nudged awake by his fellow soldiers. He makes his bed, shaves, gets dressed, laces his boots, eats breakfast. Few words are exchanged. Just another day in the army. When a commanding officer orders the "Third Unit" to move out, the soldiers grab their rifles and head for the bus.The bus stops somewhere in the countryside — Dzoni is curious to know where but decides it doesn't matter. He walks through a field and sits in the shade of a tree. He smokes cigarettes. He falls asleep. He shares a bottle of vodka with another soldier. He waits. Busloads of prisoners arrive and the Third Unit takes charge of them. More cigarettes are smoked. More vodka. More waiting. It's hard to imagine a massacre happening so slowly and methodically, but that's exactly how it goes in Ordinary People, and that's possibly how it went in Srebrenica.Dzoni says he enlisted in the army because he hadn't been able to find a job after high school. He had finished his military service and was asked if he wanted to stay on after basic training, and he thought, "Why not?""Why not?" is both a question and an answer for Dzoni, as it is for plenty of young people in need of clues for getting on with their lives. When he is shown the proper way to execute prisoners (a single bullet to the back), Dzoni tries another answer: "I can't," he says. His commanding officer looks at him, his fellow soldiers look at him, but his insubordination goes unchallenged. The execution of prisoners becomes routine. Eventually Dzoni comes back around to "Why not?" and does what is expected of him. He's never coerced, he just goes with the flow. The prisoners get younger and we watch as Dzoni — who isn't much more than a boy himself — shoots another boy without flinching. This is how monsters are made. — Randall KoralThis year NESPRESSO has Cannes covered, inside and out. Vincent Maraval gives us his take on the films his company, Wild Bunch, is screening during the festival ("Un Autre Regard," exclusively on NESPRESSO's website, daily at 6 p.m.). And Randall Koral, NESPRESSO's Cannes correspondent, serves up his impressions of the films and festivities as they happen ("Cannes Daily", 11 a.m. CET).