St. George Shoots the Dragon (Serbian
Свети Георгије убива аждаху) is an Serbian
WW1 war drama. The movie premiere was slated for March 11, 2009
[IMDb]. The movie's director is
Srđan Dragojević and the screenplay writer is
Dušan Kovačević.
With a budget of around €5 million
[Ubismo aždahu, Press, September 4, 2007], it was one of the most expensive Serbian movie productions to date. Some of the funds have been donated by the governments of
Serbia (€1.55 million) and
Republika Srpska (€750,000) who deemed the movie to be of national importance.
Kovačević script had already been made into a theater play that was staged to great success in Belgrade's
Atelje 212 and
Novi Sad's
Serbian National Theatre.
Plot
The movie starts with a battle against the
Turks during the
First Balkan War in 1912 and ends with the outbreak of
World War I in 1914 and the crucial
Battle of Cer, the first allied victory in
WW1. It is largely set in and around a small village by the
Sava river at Serbia's border with
Austria-Hungary.
The village is divided between able-bodied men that are potential army recruits and the many invalid veterans from the previous
Balkan wars, and there is bitter animosity between the two groups, which don't intermingle much with each other even though they live in the same village.
The central theme of the movie is a love triangle between the village
gendarme Đorđe, his wife Katarina and the young war cripple Gavrilo who once had a love affair with Katarina before he went to war and lost his arm in battle, and with the arm partly also his lust for life. Even though Katarina in the meantime married Đorđe, she still has affection for Gavrilo, which is a source of friction between them two.
On the onset of World War I, all able-bodied men in the village are recruited for combat. Left in the village are only women, children and invalids from previous
Balkan wars. Rumours start circulating that the invalids in the village are trying to take advantage of the situation by making their moves on the women in the village - the wives and sisters of the recruited men. These rumours reach the villagers at the frontlines, and in order to prevent mutiny the army staff decides to recruit the invalids as well and send them to the front line.
Cast
Production
The movie's production company was an entity called "Sveti Georgije ubiva aždahu" - a one-off company registered and set up for the purposes of this film by the following companies: Zillion Film (production house owned by Lazar Ristovski), Yodi Movie Craftsman (owned by Zoran Cvijanović and Milko Josifov), Delirium Film (owned by Srđan Dragojević), and Maslačak Film (owned by Biljana Prvanović). The co-producers are Oskar Film from
Banja Luka and Camera from
Bulgaria.
In addition to the governments of Serbia and Republika Srpska that donated the total of €2.25 million, the movie's funding came from
Eurimages fund that gave €400,000, Serbian Ministry of Culture, and the Executive Council of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.
[Свети Георгије убио аждаху, Politika, December 6, 2007]
The movie had 92 shooting days (50 of them were night shoots) throughout the summer and fall of 2007 on locations in
Serbia,
Republika Srpska, and
Bulgaria.
[Premijere Svetog Georgija u 3 grada, B92, March 10, 2009] The shooting began on July 18, 2007 and wrapped on December 5, 2007.
[Свети Георгије убио аждаху, Politika, December 6, 2007] For the shooting in Serbia, an entire village was built in early 20th century style in
South Banat District near
Deliblatska Peščara with full and detailed interiors done by cinematographer Miljen "Kreka" Kljaković.
[I u najskupljem srpskom filmu zvijezda Splićanka, Jutarnji list, August 20, 2007] In Republika Srpska, the shooting took place in
Omarska near
Prijedor where the
Battle of Cer was recreated.
[RTRS Dnevnik, fall 2007]
Controversy
Originally cast for the role of young war cripple Gavrilo was
Sergej Trifunović. However, as the film was about to go into production, a row over creative issues erupted between him and Lazar Ristovski, one of the film's producers who also plays the role of Đorđe the gendarme. This resulted in Trifunović effectively being fired from the movie and young Milutin Milošević cast instead for the role of Gavrilo.
Towards the end of shooting, the movie's cinematographer Miljen "Kreka" Kljaković walked off the set over not being paid in full the agreed upon amount in his contract.
[Свети Георгије убио аждаху, Politika, December 6, 2007]
Reception and reaction
Released in mid March 2009 in Serbia and Republika Srpska (March 11th in Belgrade, March 12th in
Banja Luka, and March 13th in
Niš) to much media coverage, the movie received mostly lukewarm reviews. Many of the reviewers underscored the opinion that the finished product failed to live up to the hype that surrounded it.
[KRITIKA UBILA AŽDAHU!, Press, March 30, 2009][Šotra je zakon, Popboks, March 18, 2009]
The general audiences still responded in decent numbers. After two weeks of theatrical release, the film sold 67,032 admission tickets in Serbia.
[Georgija gledalo 67 hiljada ljudi, B92, March 30, 2009]
Notes
- The movie St. George Shoots the Dragon is based on a highly acclaimed theatre play of the same name written in 1984 by Dušan Kovačević, who also wrote the movie's screenplay.
[Stalno živimo Bermudski trougao]
- Dušan Kovačević claims that the movie is based on a true story that was allegedly told him by his grandfather Cvetko Kovačević, who, as a young boy at the onset of WW1, transported wounded and killed soldiers with an oxcart to a field hospital set up near the city of Šabac during the Battle of Cer.
- Director Srđan Dragojević planned to make a movie based on the play already in 1998 and then once again in 2001, but due to a lack of funds both attempts were unsuccessful.
[Film „Sveti Georgije ubiva aždahu“][Premijere Svetog Georgija u 3 grada, B92, March 10, 2009]
- The working English title of the movie was a literal translation of the Serbian title; St. George Slays the Dragon. It was subsequently altered to reflect a scene where one character calls for Saint George to shoot at and sink an Austrian patrol boat on the Sava river.
[Streljanje aždaje]
- Zoran Tucic, storyboard artist of the film, is the notable Serbian and Yugoslav graphic novel author, architect and illustrator.
TV miniseries
Radio Television of Serbia will broadcast a six-part TV miniseries based on the movie after the movie premiere, as part of marking the 90th anniversary of the end of
WW1.
See also
