I was very surprised to hear Serbian language in the trailer. OK, accent was little weird but it was Serbian... Im just curious is Nerio really Serb (or any other Yugoslavian) or they just put Serbian in the movie to sound exotic. Believe me it wouldnt be the first time to hear things like that. One of the vampires in Blade spoke Serbian :)
shareI haven't seen the trailer or the movie, but I see that the character Nerio is played by Miki Manojlovic. Hi is actually from Serbia and I have seen him in many movies and there is nothing wrong with his accent. But I must admit it is a bit annoying when you hear the language you speak but with terrible accent like the one I heard speaking by character Niko Bellic in latest GTA game.
shareNerio is indeed from Serbie in the movie. In the comic, Nerio is from origin born in the USA but his father or grandfather is an immigrant from any Yugoslavian country (I believe Bosnie) who changed the name Winczlav into Winch when arriving in the USA.
To be real: I liked the role of Nerio in the movie, like the comicbook. But I didn't really understand why he talked French with Largo, Freddy and another character and only English in 2 scenes. A little bit odd, but ok.
He speeks french because it's a french film ;p
Seriously, in the movie, Nerio is born in former Yougoslavia, but he got the US nationality and also the Swiss nationality.
I believe that, maybe, he left Yougoslavia for Switzerland (the french part of the country I presume) where he learnt the language. So english must be the third language he learnt.
His friend Hannah's mother tongue is french too, so she must have teach her children french.
Maybe they speek french because they prefer to and are more comfortable with it.
But I maintain : the logical explanation is that the film is a french one.
Interesting theory, but I think also that it's because it's a French movie. Damn Chauvenic French :p.
shareFinally watched the movie. Pleasant surprise. And Miki Manojlovic had small but interesting role. That weird accent was spoken from the Croatian and Croatian is bit different from Serbian. I like the setting of former Yugoslavia, i guess they wanted some turbulent region, but somebody had to say authors that names like Nerio and Largo are not very usual in Balkans. (Manojlovic for example) Cool stuff!
shareIt's possible, but never said in comic or movie, that Nerio changed his name like he did the way he changed the name Winczlav to some more "internationational" name. He can also have done that for Largo, who is never mentioned by the name in the orphanage.
Edit: I saw the movie again this week and that isn't right. Largo is mentoined by his name in the orphanage.
I think that would be the most logic explonation, because his movie-brother does have an Serb/Yugo-name.
Nerio is from Hercegovina (Bosnia & Hercegovina), it's mentioned in the documentary towards the end of the film. It's also denoted by the yacht's name "Neretva", the longest river in Hercegovina - you can see it just before Nerio gets killed, 2min into the film. Neretva isn't on an island in Dalmatia, though, where much of the film was shot.
Now, whether Nerio is Serbian or Croatian and where exactly the film is set is a bit murky. The directors mixed a whole bunch of references - he goes to an orphanage in Kacinovik (I'm not aware this place exists, it's strange that they would alter the name.. There's Kalinovik in Hercegovina, though, lol.
The children's orphanage is spelled in ijekavica, written in Bosnia & Hercegovina and Croatia, but then it's named "Bele golubice" haha which is ekavica, typical for Serbia.
I'd say Miki M was cast because the man speaks impeccable French and he's one of the best Serbian actors, and both the director and the writer are French, so go figure.
Largo is definitely not a Serbian nor a Croatian name, but if you say his name in full "Largowich" it spells out Largovic, which could have been Nerio's true last name, which is Serbian/Croatian :) Obviously reading too much into this lol
All in all, if the director/writer really wanted to draw on some local references, they make no sense haha what a surprise. But it's a good action movie.
In the movie he's described at various times as a Balkan and then a Swiss/American businessman which could be a little confusing for some. As others have said I think he and Largo and others primarily speak French, because it's a French film.🐭
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