The Abandoned (Adis Bakrac, 2010): Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, France

Viewed by: Demi Mellett. Viewed at the: Santa Barbara Film Festival 2011

This film made left me feeling perplexed and wanting more by the end. I enjoyed the plot line and the acting was done very well but by the end of the movie, I never quite felt satisfaction. The movie itself was quite interesting though. To me, this movie made me think and that’s what I liked about it. I would suggest this movie to anyone from ages 16 to 60. The acting was done really well considering many of the actors and actresses were acting for the first time. At first the beginning of the film confused me but the more it progressed the more I realized what was going on and why.

The Abandoned begins with a woman giving birth in the woods and visions of tall trees trees being seen from the ground. The next scene shows 13 years later, a pack of orphaned boys playing on a rope swing and cheering each other on. The oldest boy, named Zele, swings on the swing and as he falls becomes lifeless. This captured my interest imediately. At first the boys think he is joking but then all the boys realize he has mysteriously died. Meanwhile, a new boy has arrived to the orphanage named Edhem. They all hold a ceremony for their recently lost brother and at night four of the older boys sneak out after the head of the orphanage tells them to go to sleep.

Alen, the main character who is played by Tony Grga, is told what to do by the man who financially supports the orphanage, named Mr. Sento. who is played by Dragan Marinkovic. Mr. Sento, contributes large amounts of money to the orphanage but does so by selling drugs and committing felonies. By doing so, he comes off as a great man who is very kind, but really he is a mean and inconsiderate man. He has the older boys of the orphanage do jobs for him and in turn he gives them a share of the money earned for the jobs done. Mr. Sento has the boys try and rob a jewelery store, but they set off an alarm and almost get caught for example. He puts them all at risk multiple times throughout the film but all the boys continue to do what he tells them because he has promised each one of them something they really want. For example, Alen knows that his mother is alive but has no idea where she is or where to find her.

Mr. Sento tells Alen that if he does what he wants, he will bring Alen his file which says where his mother is located. Mr. Sento tries as much as he can to postpone giving Alen the file but eventually Alen snaps and tells Sento that if he doesn’t give him the file soon he is going to quit doing Sento’s dirty work for him. Sento eventually gives over the file and once Alen reads over it, he goes on a mission to find his mother and we follow him on his journey to find her.

The director does a great job at keeping the audience enthralled in what is going on throughout the whole film. The whole movie had a overtone of gray which showed how Alen was not happy because he couldn’t figure out where his mother was. The colors, gray shade of the film, and editing all brought it together, making the film work perfectly.

All in all, I really enjoyed this film and would suggest it to anyone. The angles and music choice used in The Abandoned stood out to me. The story line was intriguing and the acting was done very well.