St. George Shoots the Dragon

Infobox_Film
name = Saint George Shoots the Dragon

---

image_size = 225px
director = Srđan Dragojević
producer = Dušan Kovačević
Lazar Ristovski
Srđan Dragojević
Milko Josifov
Biljana Prvanović
writer = Dušan Kovačević
starring = Lazar Ristovski
Milutin Milošević
Nataša Janjić
Bora Todorović
Dragan Nikolić
Milena Dravić
Zoran Cvijanović
Branislav Lečić
distributor = Sveti Georgije Ubiva Aždahu
released = October 2008
music = Aleksandar Saša Habić
runtime = 150 min
awards =
language = Serbian
budget = $13 million (estimated)
imdb_id = 0906083

"St. George Shoots the Dragon" is an upcoming Serbian WW1 war drama scheduled to be released in October 2008 [http://www.pressonline.rs/page/stories/sr.html?view=story&id=36345 Streljanje aždaje] ] . The movie's director is Srđan Dragojević (directed "Pretty Village, Pretty Flame") and the screenplay writer is Dušan Kovačević (wrote the screenplay for "Underground").

With a budget of around €5 million [ [http://www.pressonline.rs/page/stories/sr.html?view=story&id=19295 Ubismo aždahu] ] , once released it will be one of the most expensive Serbian movies to date. Most of the funds for the movie have been donated by the governments of Serbia and Republika Srpska (the Serbian entity in Bosnia) who have deemed this movie to be of national importance.

Plot

The movie starts with a battle against the Turks in the 1st Balkan war in 1912 and ends with the outbreak of WW1 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 WW1, 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 front and in order to prevent mutiny the army staff decides to recruit the invalids as well and send them to the front line.

Cast

* Lazar Ristovski - Đorđe
* Milutin Milošević - Gavrilo
* Nataša Janjić - Katarina
* Bora Todorović - Aleksa
* Zoran Cvijanović - Mile Vuković
* Dragan Nikolić - Priest
* Boris Milivojević - Rajko Pevac
* Branislav Lečić - Tasić
* Mladen Andrejević - Teacher Mićun
* Srđan Timarov - Mikan
* Predrag Vasić - Vane the orphan
* Bojan Žirović - Žoja
* Milica Ostojić - First sister
* Milena Dravić - Aunt
* Milena Predić - Jelena
* Slobodan Ninković - Ninko Belotić

Trivia

* 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. [http://www.tv.novosti.rs/code/navigate.php?Id=475 Stalno živimo Bermudski trougao] ]

* It is based on a true story that Dušan Kovačević was told by his grandfather Cvetko Kovačević. A young boy at the onset of WW1, he 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. [ [http://www.creemaginet.com/sajt/film-sveti-georgije-ubiva-azdahu Film „Sveti Georgije ubiva aždahu“] ]

* The working English title of the movie was a literal translation of the Serbian title; "St. George Kills 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.

TV miniseries

Radio Television of Serbia will broadcast a six-part TV miniseries based on the movie in late 2008, as part of marking the 90th anniversary of the end of WW1.

See also

*List of most expensive Serbian films

References

External links

* [http://www.azdaha.com/ Official website (with movie trailer)]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0906083/ IMDb Page]
* [http://www.zillionfilm.com/eng/azdaha/index.html Zillion film]