MovieChat Forums > Gruz 200 (2007) Discussion > Comparable to "A Serbian Film" (2010).

Comparable to "A Serbian Film" (2010).

posted 6 years ago by TheMan18 (12480)
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Did anyone else after watching this movie, Aleksey Balabanov's "Cargo 200" (2007), get the feeling that in some ways, it is similar to and can be compared to Srdjan Spasojevic's "A Serbian Film" (2010), with how it uses sexual, physical and psychological violence as a metaphor for the violation of the nation and an abuse of government power, but whereas Cargo 200 looked as a metaphor for the abuse of Russia in Soviet Union times, A Serbian Film was about the abuse and violation of Milosevic-era Serbia, although A Serbian Film is more extreme and disturbing with not only how much sexual and physical violence it features, but how at least twice it crosses the line even further with the "new-born genre" scene and a "Serbian Family" scene (those of you who HAVE indeed seen it will know what I mean) whereas "Cargo" represents the brutal violation of Soviet Union-era Russia metaphorically via the violation of a teenage girl Angelika, I also kinda wonder if Spasojevic may have ALSO seen "Cargo 200" and gotten some ideas off it, given how that movie was released 3 years before his notorious work came into being.

Any thoughts?

[–] WilloughbyStain (194) 2 years ago

While disturbing and unpleasant at a number of points, it's relatively tame compared to A Serbian Film. But I agree that both films seem to portray their relatively small-scale stories as a microcosm of the wider society the characters inhibit, it's an interesting parallel you've drawn here. I found Cargo 200 to be a much stronger film, though I can't deny A Serbian Film is certainly memorable.