Ordinary People

What is it about the mechanics of war that can turn seemingly ordinary people into cold-blooded killers? This question is raised in Serbian director Vladimir Perisic's feature debut, the appropriately titled "Ordinary People". Firmly rooted in a hyperrealist aesthetic, the bloodshed is seen from the perspective of naïve 20-year-old soldier, Dzoni, a new recruit in an unnamed war evoking the Balkan conflict of the 1990's. He and his platoon are deployed to an abandoned farm following the film's vague references to attacks by unknown terrorists. The soldiers await orders for combat, but that particular conflict never comes. Instead, truckloads of prisoners are brought in to be executed by the troop. Initially horrified, Dzoni soon adjusts to his job with an efficient pragmatism. The dehumanizing nature of their mechanical slaughter has equally callous consequences on the psyches of the people involved. Perisic questions if it is possible to draw a line between the human being and the actions they perform, leaving us to try to make meaning of Dzoni's brutal behavior. REBECKA AHLBERG