ZLATNI REZ '42 - DJECA KOZARE (2026)

 

 

 

 

 

Režija: Lordan Zafranović
Scenario: Arsen Diklić, Lordan Zafranović i Uroška Tatomir

 

Ovo su moji utisci (u šest tačaka) o autorskoj, i nadam se, ne konačnoj verziji filma koja će ići u bioskopsku distribuciju.
Zašto sam napisao da se nadam?  
Zato što će ovo biti odličan, čak veliki film, ali samo ako se iseku, to jest izbace, scene koje u značajnoj meri kvare pozitivan utisak o ovom Zafranovićevom umetničkom delu. Ali ne zato što usporavaju film, a nisu neophodne, već zato što su u ovom kontekstu pogrešne i suvišne.

Obeležiću SPOILERE crvenim slovima u kurzivu, mada i bez toga neću ništa suštinski otkriti o sudbini likova što bi nekome moglo da pokvari gledanje.

1.
Ono što mi je najviše smetalo i što jednostavno mora da se iseče, s obzirom na to da je namera autora i svih onih koji su stali iza ovog filma bila da ovo delo u celini bude ozbiljna i dostojna posveta jasenovačkim mučenicima, su polu pornografske scene.
Tu, naravno, mislim na scene Ljube Miloša sa njegovom sekretaricom, koju tumači Katarina Radivojević (sa sve felaciom, srećom nevidljivim i guranjem flaše u vaginu), a koje nemaju apsolutno nikakvog smisla niti opravdanja u ovoj priči, a posebno nemaju mesta u filmu sa ovakvom temom, sem da Katarina pokaže svoje atribute (iz daleka i izbliza) i da Lordan ispoštuje tradiciju prikaza lepih golih žena u svojim filmovima. A cela ta epizoda sa Jevrejkom koja se loži na svog ustaškog mučitelja deluje kao neka jeftina i otrcana verzija priče iz Noćnog portira Liliane Kavani.      
U ovu kategoriju spadaju i scene sa Milošem na nasipu posle likvidacija logorašica uhvaćenih pri pokušaju bekstva. Nakon što je jednu od devojaka obesio, on joj temeljno posisa dojku, a potom se skine i masturbira, i to u muzičkoj pratnji ciganskog orkestra.

Jasno mi je da je to trebalo da bude još jedna šokantna skica u portretu psihopate i perverznjaka kakav je bio Ljubo Miloš i prikaz njegove izopačene mešavine erosa i tanatosa, a poznato je da su on i njegovi koljači radili mnogo gore stvari sa živim logorašicama, ali ove su scene u rangu jeftinih rešenja iz ekploatacijskih treš filmova iz sedamdesetih i proizvode potpuno suprotan efekat od onog koji je reditelj želeo.

Upravo je zbog slične scene u Dari iz Jasenovca, iako mnogo blaže prikazane, kritikovan Predrag Antonijević, jer je snimio seks ustaša Dinka i Nade Šakić, koju su prizori ubijanja logoraša seksualno uzbudili.

Šta još treba izbaciti?  

Scenu u kojoj jevrejski glumac-klovn na pozorišnoj predstavi (koju Luburić organizuje za predstavnike Crvenog križa kako bi se uverili da je Jasenovac radni logor u kojem logoraši uživaju u umetnosti koju sami kreiraju), na kraju svoje tačke podsmevanja i prkošenja ustašama - počne da prdi, a iz dupeta mu izlaze mehurići od pene.   
Ova scena je izazvala dve različite reakcije u publici na projekciji filma. Neki su bili šokirani i potpuno zbunjeni, a neki su se smejali. Da li je ideja te scene bila da posluži kao ventil za gledaoce da bi bar na nekoliko sekundi ispraznili akumuliranu teskobu i mučninu od potresnog filma, ili nešto što je Lordanu izgledalo kao prigodna metafora koja simbolizuje borbu svih umetnika sveta protiv totalitarnih režima, ne znam, ali meni je bila over the top i potpuno je rasturila do tada savršeno kreiranu mračnu i smrtno ozbiljnu atmosferu pakla na Zemlji zvanog Jasenovac.

Osim što će ove scene negativno uticati na percepciju filma kod objektivne i filmski pismene publike, Zafranovićevi neobjektivni kritičari i mrzitelji, iz Srbije i regiona, a koji do sad nisu videli film, će ih oduševljeno dočekati kako bi film diskreditovali i ismevali kao jeftinu pornografiju i parodiju koje su neprimerene ovako ozbiljnoj i osetljivoj temi.

Sve scene sa neimenovanim ustaškim oficirom koga tumači Milan Marić su, takođe, višak.

On je fensi ustaša, intelektualac, umetnik, čovek sa uzvišenom misijom, nerazumljivom običnim ustaškim koljačima; on ne ubija nožem i maljem, već samo revolverom i u belim rukavicama. Sa sobom nosi crvenu ružu. On ne deluje realistično, već kao kartonski lik, neka karikatura ustaše, veštački umetnut u to vreme i prostor. Ne možete čak ni da ga mrzite jer ne deluje stvarno; samo vas iritira kad god se pojavi. Ni interakcija ovog virtuelnog ustaše sa drugim likovima nije bitna za radnju. Pojavi se, ispali par otrcanih kvazifilozofskih parola, ubije nekoga i nestane, i tako nekoliko puta u toku filma. Marić je bezuspešno pokušavao da udahne životnost tom liku teatralnim gestikulacijama.

Još jedna od apsurdnih scena koja se bez problema može izbrisati je ona u kojoj se usred tzv. nastupa (postrojavanja logoraša radi prebrojavanja, selekcije za prisilni rad, a najčešće javnih likvidacija) na kojem Marićev ustaša poziva da se jave oni koji su pomogli bekstvo jednog Jevreja iz logora, dvojica počinju da se naglas smeju trećem, jer se uneredio od straha.
Kome je od logoraša u Jasenovcu uopšte bilo od smeha, a posebno usred nastupa povodom bekstva jednog od njih, kada im je smrt svima nad glavom?  

Jeftina simbolika sa belim golubom na Maksu Luburiću, takođe, baš bode oči.

Na kraju dolazimo i do scene sa bunarom pred kojim se ustaše sa svojim zarobljenicima zaustavljaju da bi im dali vode, ali kozaračke žene i deca će ostati žedni, jer su u bunaru leševi ubijenih Srba.
Vizuelna simbolika i apstrakcija koja nam je potom prikazana (sa eksplozijom krvi i katapultiranjem leševa iz bunara u vazduh, a potom gejzirom čiste vode koja pada na žedne Kozarčane) je bila apsurdna, a i potpuno iznenađujuća i neobjašnjiva, jer potpuno odskače od realističnih prizora koje smo do tog trenutka gledali.

 

Tu bih dodao i krvave suze koje se slivaju iz očiju Bogorodice na fresci, i rađanje devojčice iz obešene majke, iako je ova scena snimljena u realističnom ključu, bez vizeulnih efekata koji bi nagoveštavali božansku intervenciju.   
Meni generalno te metafizičke i nadrealne scene u filmu nisu ostavile jak utisak, sem one posvećivanja starca Vukašina, koja je jednostavno i upečatljivo izvedena, i delimično srbosjeka koji na kraju završava na dnu reke da u mulju zlokobno čeka da ga neko nekad ponovo iskopa.

Predrag Antonijević je to kreativnije i emotivnije izveo u Dari iz Jasenovca sa vagonom ubijenih u koji su simbolički ulazile jasenovačke žrtve.    


2.
Film ima i nekih mana koje ne mogu da se reše u montaži, jer su scene koje ih sadrže neophodni delovi ove filmske kompozicije. Ali to ne znači da ih treba prećutati:

- umiranje logoraša u filmu je trenutno. Bez obzira da li su im prerezani vratovi, da li su obešeni ili upucani.
Dakle, baš niko od njih se nije batrgao i krkljao nakon klanja (možda samo onaj Jevrej u lančari), niti mahao nogama boreći se za vazduh na vešalima (svima su u sekundi izgleda slomljeni vratovi), niti ostao živ iako je samo jednom pogođen metkom i to ne u vitalne organe.
Možda je to većini gledalaca nebitno, možda i nisu primetili, ali ako se već insistiralo na realizmu i autentičnosti, onda je trebalo posvetiti i tome pažnju;  

- gotovo niko od logoraša koje ustaše vode na likvidacije (i koje prethodno odvežu?!), dakle onih koji znaju da će biti ubijeni, se ne otima, ne moli, ne viče, ne kune. Ni logorašice koje Ljubo Miloš veša jednu po jednu (istina, jedna ga je pljunula), ni seljačka porodica koju će zapaliti vezanu za stog sena, ni Cigani iz orkestra koje iz revolvera ubijaju jednog po jednog.
Može se pretpostaviti da su mnogi od njih bili u šoku i zamrznuti (kao što se to često dešava ljudima u takvim situacijama), ili su bili ravnodušni (kao što su mnogi logoraši u Jasenovcu zaista i bili prema smrti koja im je pretila svake sekunde, pa su na kraju i otupeli), ali da gotovo niko od njih u filmu nije pokazao nikakvu reakciju, već su najčešće delovali kao ljudske lutke, predstavlja još jedan od propusta koji mi je upao u oči;

- u par slučajeva ustaše pokazuju iznenađujuću toleranciju i strpljenje prema svojim zarobljenicima, pogotovu prema deci koja odbijaju poslušnost (u scenama borbe za vodu na Kozari), pa čak i udaraju i grizu svoje stražare (kao plavokosi kovrdžavi klinac na bodljikavoj žici u sceni odvajanja od majke).
A dobro je poznato iz svedočanstava kozaračkih izbeglica i jasenovačkih logoraša da ustaše u tim situacijama ni sekund nisu oklevale da takvo dete probodu bajonetom ili mu razbiju glavu kundakom, ili o zid, pa zato takve scene ovde deluju neuverljivo. Jasno mi je da nije lako snimiti scenu udaranja ili ubistva deteta, ali je to sigurno moglo da se reši kako bi izgledalo uverljivo i verno istorijskim izvorima;

- izdepilirano međunožje jedne od logorašica;

 

- jedan od klinaca statista koje ustaše sprovode u logor se nasmejao;

- ima i nekih naivnih i nelogičnih scenarističkih rešenja pred kraj filma kada Diana vodi glavnu junakinju, Srpkinju Zoru, da vidi svog malog brata direktno u stan glavne ustaškinje u Zagrebu, ili kad ustaški oficir svoju uniformu maskira samo jednim mantilom, i sa automatom se vraća u glavni grad Hrvatske koji su oslobodili partizani.

Iako se autorska verzija filma, kao što sam naveo, nije sekla tamo gde je trebalo, negde se secnulo i gde nije trebalo.
Tako u filmu upadljivo fali deo u kojem je trebalo da vidimo kako je glavna junakinja završila u partizanima, i gde je nestala hrvatska porodica, koja ju je prihvatila po bekstvu iz Jasenovca.

Postoje i neke scene koje nisu problematične kao one navedene na početku ovog teksta, već jednostavno nisu neophodne; ni za praćenje radnje, ni za razvoj likova, a njihovim odstranjivanjem film bi dobio na kompaktnosti i oštrini, i bio još snažniji.

Mislim da bi kad se sve sabere, moglo da se iseče najmanje pola sata, a možda i sat vremena.

A kada bi se to uradilo, jasnije bi se videlo, i još jače doživelo sve ono što je vrhunski urađeno u ovom filmu.
Tada dobijamo potresnu, bolnu i dostojanstvenu posvetu jasenovačkim žrtvama (a u širem smislu i svim žrtvama NDH čiji je Jasenovac najmonstruozniji simbol), i snažno umetničko delo, koje je izvanredno režirano i odglumljeno.

3.

Zlatni rez 42 može da posluži kao savršen primer studentima režije, kamere i montaže (montažeri su bili Milena Predić i Alfred Kolombo), kako se majstorski snima film - kako treba da se kreće kamera, kako se kadrira i montira, šta i kad treba da bude u fokusu gledalaca, kako se koristi svetlo...Bravo za Lordana i njegovu ekipu

Uz režiju, gluma je drugi snažan adut ovog filma. Svi glumci su odradili svoje zadatke na visokom nivou, od glavnih, pa do najmanjih epizodista. A neke od glumačkih kreacija ovde su bile genijalne.
Tu pre svega mislim na mladog Alekseja Bjelogrlića (izmišljeni ustaški psihopata Lovro), koji je, i to kažem bez preterivanja, kreirao jednog od najkompleksnijih, najubedljivijih i najjezivijih monstruma u ljudskom liku u svetskoj kinematografiji.  

Odmah uz njega je fantastična glumačka predstava viđena u petomintnoj ispovesti ustaškog koljača Žileta Friganovića (ovde Jurice) u tumačenju Miodraga Dragičevića.

U ovu trojku ravnopravno ulazi još jedan mladi glumac, u filmu još dečak - Vuk Trnavac, koji je sa lakoćom i neposrednošću, prirodno i ubedljivo predstavio lik dečaka logoraša i šegrta ustaškog koljača Lovre, i uneo toliko potreban tračak vedrine i nade u crnilo ove teške teme; posebno kroz odnos sa glavnom junakinjom Zorom. Nemam pojma ko je ovaj talentovani klinac, jer sam ga ovde prvi put video, ali sudeći po ovoj ulozi, velika karijera je pred njim; samo ako bude imao sreće sa domaćim rediteljima i izboru projekata.

Mlada glumica iz Republike Srpske Milica Stanković, koja tumači glavnu junakinju Zoru, je bila odlična. Markantna, ekspresivna, i ubedljiva, bez mnogo mimike i gestikulacija. 

 

 

Njen prkosni pogled u poslednjem delu filma je nezaboravan.

Iako fizički nema nikakve sličnosti sa Dianom Budisavljević, Anica Dobra se fino snašla u ovoj zahtevnoj ulozi.

Dušanka Stojanović Glid, koja glumi glavnu ustašku funkcionerku iz Zagreba, je pristojno odradila postavljeni zadatak, ali mi je utisak da je tu napravljena greška u kastingu; nekako mi ta glumica ima lice neke domaćice/tetke/majke iz domaćih treš serija sa TV Prve i Pinka, a ne bezosećajne ustaške aždaje, pa mi nije delovala zastrašujuće, pa samim tim ni dovoljno ubedljivo u toj ulozi.    

Srpski glumci su se uglavnom dobro snašli sa hrvatskim jezikom, i najčešće bosansko-hercegovačkim akcentom, i zato je šteta što par njih nije obratilo pažnju, ili im nije ukazano, kako se pravilno akcentuje naziv Jasenovac.

Trojica hrvatskih glumaca, koji su praktično nosioci glavnih uloga, bili su izvanredni.
Rene Bitorajac je uspeo da bez karikiranja i preterivanja uverljivo predstavi esenciju zla kakav je bio brutalni zapovednik Jasenovca i direktni izvršilac ustaške ideologije, Maks Luburić.
Leon Lučev je impresivan u ulozi izmišljenog ustaškog oficira Bobinca; čovek kao da ne glumi-on je postao taj lik.

Beader takođe briljira kao još jedan zloglasni ustaški koljač-Ljubo MIloš. Fascinatna je njegova transformacija iz hladnog, smirenog, proračunatog administrativca u kancelariji, u zastrašujućeg psihopatu i sadistu koji lično presuđuje logorašima.

Sve ustaše u filmu (sem Marićevog lika) su u velikoj meri zahvaljujući glumcima koji su ih tumačili, bili životni likovi, dakle, ne samo jednodimenzionalni negativci iz fimova B produkcije ili loših stripova, već stvarni ljudi, i baš zbog toga su bili još strašniji i ubedljiviji.

Bojan Navojec i Hana Hegedušić su takođe bili dobri u svojim epizodama dobroćudnog zagorskog bračnog para, kao i Vili Matula u svojoj minijaturi hrvatskog komuniste na stratištu.

 

4.
Priča i likovi filma sa zasnovani na scenariju čuvenog jugoslovenskog književnika i scenariste Arsena Diklića (Ne okreći se, sine, Marš na Drinu, Salaš u Malom Ritu..), i njegov autorski pečat se prepoznaje u snažnim i jasno profilisanim fiktivnim karakterima, i dijalozima koji su precizno napisani i zvuče životno i prirodno.
Siguran sam da Arsen nije napisao one opscene scene sa Ljubom Milošem i njegovom sekretaricom.
    
Istorijski kontekst je jasno predstavljen gledaocima i to je pametno i vešto uklopljeno u film (a što je upadljivo nedostajalo u Dari iz Jasenovca); prvo informacijama koje gledalac može da pročita na početku filma, zatim majstorski snimljenom scenom iz jednog, neprekinutog kadra u kojoj posmatramo sastanak ustaških vođa sa njihovim nemačkim i italijanskim šefovima, na kojem ćemo čuti šta je cilj ofanzive na Kozari, i na kraju, kroz reči  Miloša i Luburića, koji objašnjavaju da je genocid nad Srbima, Jevrejima i Ciganima koji gledamo - državni projekat, a ne skup nasumičnih akcija nekolicine odmetnutih i pijanih ustaša; da se sprovodi sistemski, na osnovu zakona ustaške države, i sa jasno određenim ciljevima i metodama kojima treba da budu ostvareni (po poznatom, zloglasnom modelu trećina).

Auentičnost zločina u Jasenovcu prikazanih u filmu se gledaocima dokazuje dokumentarnim snimcima koji se više puta u toku filma prepliću sa igranom dramatitzacijom tih scena.

Fotografija Gorana Volarevića je odlična, i adekvatna za film sa ovom temom i ovako epskog zamaha.

Scenografija Milenka Jeremića je impresivna. On je uradio fascinantan posao u rekonstrukciji jasenovačkog logora čije ćete različite delove moći da vidite u filmu, a posebno je ubedljiv prikaz lančare.

Vidi se da su u ovaj film uložene ozbiljne pare.

Kostimi (Borisa Čakširana) i maska/šminka (Dušice Vuksanović) su na visokom nivou. Za razliku od Dare iz Jasenovca gde su logoraši izgledali previše čisto i ispeglano, ovde je to odrađeno kako treba, tako da gotovo osećate prljavštinu i smrad dok gledate film.

Jedino gde imam zamerku u ovom segmentu je premalo krvi na telima ustaških ubica nakon klanja njihovih žrtava.

Posebna pohvala za Angelinu Marinković koja je birala statiste. Ljudi koje ćete videti u filmu (svih starosnih kategorija) izgledaju kao pravi logoraši, a ne kao manekeni iz naših reklama. Puno ih je izgledalo izmučeno ili bolesno, a posebno su upečatljiva neka lica koja podsećaju na ona sa starih crno belih fotografija logoraša iz tog vremena.
I ustaški stražari su dobro odabarani; nije se insistiralo na čudovišnim fizionomijama i ružnim ljudima, već su se birali mukarci običnih, prosečnih lica, uglavnom mlađi i srednjih godina.

Muzika Željka Joksimovića je izvanredna. U najvećem delu je to moćan horor skor. Baš kakav je i potreban za film sa ovom temom.

Jedini tehnički aspekt koji je bio slab je CGI. To je bilo posebno vidljivo u scenama klanja i u sceni paljenja seljaka, kao i ubacivanja ubijenog Jevrejina u peć.

  

5.
Najčešća pitanja koja se postavljaju onima koji su film gledali su:
- Da li ima scena kao što je čuvena iz autobusa u Okupaciji u 26 slika? Da li može da se gleda?

Iako su scene ubijanja u Zlatnom rezu 42 eksplicitne (najčešće rezanje grkljana), uz nešto stilizacije i bez skretanja kamere (sem u dva slučaja), nijedna se po intenzitetu i brutalnosti ne može porediti sa onima iz autobusa smrti.
Ovde su mnogo potresniji dokumentarni snimci žrtava Jasenovca (posebno dece) koje su kod gledalaca izazivale veći šok, jer su ih očigledno neki tek sada prvi put videli.
Uglavnom, na projekciji kojoj sam prisustvovao je bilo ljudi koji nisu mogli sve to da podnesu pa su napuštali  salu, a video sam i da su neke žene pokrivale lice rukama kada god bi sledila scena ubijanja.   
Meni su najpotresnije scene u filmu, i mnogo snažnije od samih prikaza likvidacija, bile one u kojima ustaše odvajaju decu od majki, i tu su glumice i statistkinje bile bolno uverljive.

6.
Da li je film antihrvatski?
Za Hrvate koji se identifikuju sa ustašama, za koje je NDH svetla tačka hrvatske istorije, i koji se dive i ponose njenim čelnicima, sigurno jeste.
Za one normalne, naravno da nije.

U filmu imate hrvatski bračni par koji prihvata i odgaja srpsko dete koje je pobeglo iz Jasenovca.
Imate Hrvata koji hrabro prkosi ustaškim koljačima na gubilištu ( i to čuvenim rečima Rada Končara).
Imate predstavnike hrvatskog Crvenog križa koji se sa Dijanom hrabro i uporno bore da spasu decu Jasenovca.

Imate jednog od glavnih ustaških oficira koji se protivi ubijanju dece, pa čak i usvaja jedno srpsko dete.

I nema nikakvog licitiranja brojevima ubijenih u Jasenovcu.


ZAKLJUČAK

Nadam se da će producenti uspeti da sa Lordanom naprave kompromis u montaži i da nađu najidealnije rešenje u pogledu dužine filma, odnosno, odstranjivanja svega onog što ga kvari, opterećuje i oduzima mu snagu (a imajući u vidu i to da autorska verzija nije izvorno nastala ovakva kakvu smo je videli na Festu, već je izmontirana od 8 sati materijala za TV seriju), i da ćemo u bioskopskoj distribuciji videti verziju koja će filmu dozvoliti da istim intenzitetom i oštrinom pulsira i udara tokom celog svog trajanja, i tako ostvari puni potencijal koji ovaj snimljeni materijal poseduje.

P.S.

Nisam hteo da u ovom tekstu gubim vreme na pljuvače Lordana Zafranovića iz Srbije i regiona koji film i autora nisu napadali iz umetničkih, već iz političkih razloga, i zbog teme kojom se kroz celu karijeru beskompromisno i dosledno bavi, a u slučaju njegovih “kolega” iz sveta filma, naročito srpskih, i zbog zavisti i sujete.
Lordanovo dosadašnje umetničko delo, hrabrost i integritet su dovoljna brana od takvih napada.

A za njih samo: - Lajte, kere Jakobsfelda.


DRPIGA

RED SONJA (2025)

 

DIRECTOR: MJ Bassett
WRITERS: Tasha Huo, MJ Bassett

 

MJ BASSETT:

"The Red Sonja in this movie is my Red Sonja, and I guarantee she's not lots of other people's Red Sonja. "

"There is NO Red Sonja character. She's whatever you need her to be. You assume you know, she's feisty and tough, and she's rude to men, and maybe she's bisexual, and you know she wears a chain mail bikini, but there's not much people can say: - Oh, her character is this.
I know what to do with this woman and to utilize her for my purposes."

"When you read Red Sonja comics (maybe not Gail's because she felt a little more solid), she was just an excuse to have Conan next to a barely dressed woman fighting some monster, which was some metaphor for penis."

"I knew what I wanted her to be, but I also knew it wasn't exactly like a comic book character. I thought she had potential for more depth. I like what Gail Simone did to her, reinvented her."

"Chain mail bikini? It took us so long, to me, to figure out why she would wear it. Nobody would wear it. Nobody would wear this. It's a stupid costume."

"I interviewed some physically incredibly capable women, statuesque, with big breasts — everything that the comic book version of Sonja had always been, and I met some great actresses, but every single one of them failed to encapsulate everything. I thought Matilda is the place to go with this because she much more reflects me now. And I think ultimately you do make movies about yourself."

"Sonja is a lighter movie in terms I didn't want it to be so hard. I wanted it to be more accessible to young women."

"When I screened the movie to the owner of the Studio he said: - Oh, God, it's much better than I expected.

The limited audience we had, cried, because the film is about love and compassion"

TASHA HUO:

“Red Sonja is a barbarian, a female version of Conan, a superhero.”

 “Gail Simone's Red Sonja is fantastic because she is very feminist, self-confident and it is obvious that the woman is her author."

“Sonja lives in Hyrkania. Unlike the real world in which Lara Croft lives, Hyrkania is an imaginary world and I can present it as I wish.“

 

These two ladies clearly announced that this would not be a movie about the real Red Sonja, but about some imaginary character that they created in their heads, and that's exactly what they presented to us in their film.

What kind of character is that? 

A mix of female Tarzan & Mowgli, Greta Thunberg, Woodstock hippie, Spartacus, and Boudica from Temu.

This Sonja hides many different personalities within her — peaceful, gentle, humane, compassionate, naive, stupid, childish, calm, emotionally unstable, weak, impulsive, suicidal, smart, experienced, crazy, cruel, and insensitive...

What does this Sonja do in the movie?

She fiercely fights for animal rights, but she forgets to shorten their suffering when they are dying (the Hyborian version of the rhinoceros at the beginning of the film), she talks and cuddles with her horse like a small child with a puppy, she bathes with her clothes on, she is ready to fight to the death to save her horse, she throws weapons and invites the enemy to kill her without a fight, she tries to escape from captivity in the most stupid ways possible, she wisely plans and organizes an attack on the enemy, she sings Celtic lament, cries about every little thing, and especially while watching her biggest enemies dying, flirts like some teenage girl from modern teen romance movie, she deliveres pathetic speeches about piece, morality and justice like a contestant for Miss World, she blows up her enemy's palace without pity, although many innocent people will die in it, she cold-bloodedly kills an enemy soldier who was captured by her men, and then at the end of the movie she offers a therapeutic session of comfort and forgiveness to villain who killed her friends and persecutes her people, and holds his hand so he can die in peace.

Afterwards, she orders her men to bury his body with honors.

You never know who Red Sonja really is, because her features and mood change without any explanation from minute to minute.

All the while, she speaks in a strange accent that also changes throughout the film.

What can I say about the physical appearance of this Sonja — Matilda Lutz, who portrays her?

That she doesn't have any physical resemblance to Sonja from the comics and illustrations, that she doesn't have a mighty appearance, that she doesn't look attractive nor dangerous (so that's why MJ had to put that stupid war paint from Gail Simone's run on her face), that she doesn't stand out from the other women in the film in any way except for the red, and bad wig. I expected that the camera would add height and weight to her and that she would look bigger and more imposing on film, but it doesn't show.
In the first fifteen minutes of the film, during which Matilda/Sonja walks through a beautiful forest of magical colors, taking a bath with a horse, climbs a tree to eat honey (of course, bees won't attack her because Sonja is also a protector of insects), and then enjoys the scenery, you will see Matilda as she really looks - like a sweet and lovable heroine of a Disney fairy tale. Nothing like Red Sonja, of course, but at least she is nice to look at.

But then an ugly and surprising transformation occurs. Something that really surprised me and what I didn't think was possible — MJ Bassett and the people who were in charge to physically shape the lead actress for this role, but also those who were in charge of make-up and wig-making (all of them Bulgarians), managed to do impossible - to turn a pretty and feminine woman like Matilda into an unattractive and masculine one. 

In the rest of the movie, Matilda looks like a small, square, flat-chested Latin American female MMA atomweight fighter with a bad wig.

                                                                 

And in the last scene, in which Sonja drinks beer in a tavern, she looks like one of the guys she's gambling with.

I don't really know, maybe MJ wanted Sonja to look like a transgender person; maybe that explains her words that she wants to create such a Sonja that would reflect herself.

Matilda, as we have seen, will wear some kind of metal underwear for older ladies in the arena. She looks ridiculous in it, and I totally understand why she said in interviews that she was uncomfortable wearing it. MJ didn't put that homemade Halloween parody of Sonja's chain mail bikini into the film to please Red Sonja fans, as she said, but to make fun of her iconic costume. Matilda does not wear a "chain mail bikini" because it is her choice, but because her enemy forced her to do so to humiliate her.
First, there is a scene with the fat blacksmith who gives that armor to her before the fight in the arena, and when shocked Sonja asks: - And that protects?, he answers: - Nothing, absolutely nothing, but the crowd will love it.

Then in the arena we have another scene that has the same purpose. Sonja asks female gladiator Petra (played by Rhona Mitra) : - Did they ever make you to wear this?
Petra answers: - I would have cut the balls from any man who tried to make me.

It's even more absurd when Sonja chooses a similar variant of this costume for the next fight, only heavier, clumsier and even more idiotic (it includes metal skirt/shorts with pockets).

Sonja's hair, i.e. the wig, changed color at least three times in the film — from burgundy, to brown, and finally to bright red, so it is unclear whether the wigmakers forgot with which wig the filming started, or maybe someone was asleep in post-production when that color had to be digitally processed. Or is it some vague message about Sonja's transformation that the director wanted to send in this way. But even then, at the end of the film, Red Sonja will not have her natural fiery hair color that she is famous for.

The eyebrows were not touched. They remained black.

 

Sonja's fighting abilities in the movie are inexplicable, just like her character.

Sometimes they are there, sometimes they are not. At the beginning, Sonja is captured because she tried to enter the enemy's fortress as a boy scout, but only half an hour later she is a brilliant military strategist like Suvorov.
It is unclear when, where and how she learned to fight, because in the first half hour she is introduced to us as a peaceful hippie who picks flowers in the forest and whose only skill is to set a trap to catch a rabbit. But then we will see how she kills two (twice her size) guards with a knife in two strokes, and a few moments later she will defeat an experienced warrior, a former gladiator champion and bodyguard of the main villain, Annisia, (played by Wallis Day). We will see something similar in the gladiatorial arena.

But then, the same Sonja, sitting in the forest and keeping watch, will allow a man to sneak up silently behind her. Later, Sonja loses the fight to Annisia and she is mortally wounded. She helplessly awaits death, resigned to her fate (does this look like the real Sonja to you?), but luckily she is saved by a horse like in some movie for kids. After that, the Goddess revives her, or heals her wound (it remains unclear) and tells her that she will no longer be the old Sonja, but the new one.

Now we will see that Sonja is capable of stunts as a circus acrobat (backward somersault from the wall of the fortress, and hitting the opponent with an arrow while she is falling down), and in one scene we will see that she even literally flew from her horse on the ramparts of the fortress (the dilemma remains whether she really got the power to fly from the Goddess, or MJ just filmed that in a sloppy way).

Be that as it may, it is not clear to the viewers whether Sonja is the same warrior as she was, or if she is even stronger and deadlier—some updated version of Red Sonja the eco-warrior. Here MJ and Tasha obviously tried to use the comic book motif of the Goddess as Sonja's protector and bestower of unparalleled warrior skills and invincibility, as well as the motif of Sonja's reincarnation(from second Dynamite RS run), but like everything else in this movie, they did it clumsily so that it remains unknown whether Sonja somehow learned to fight on her own, or the Goddess gave her these abilities; did she die, and then she was revived, is she now stronger than before, or not, is she now vulnerable or not.

All in all, this Red Sonja is not Red Sonja in any way — not in appearance, not in costume, not in the sword she carries (a toy for children with a short blade and a strange pommel), not in character, not in exhibiting strange behavior towards her horse (another of Sonja's traits that the authors of the film misunderstood and copied poorly from a couple of comic books they read), nor in the words she speaks.

And Matilda Lutz herself contributed to this, not only with her inappropriate appearance for this role, but also with her bad acting. That's the second big surprise for me in this movie, because Matilda was a good actress in all the movies and series I've seen her in before (for example, the TV series Medici, or Revenge movie). Here, she was either misguided by the director, or she had the freedom to present the role as she thought she should, so she did it the wrong way; but anyway, she failed.

In the scenes where she has to look menacing and dangerous, she is simply ridiculous and funny. 

She looked like an angry teenager whose mother forbade her to go out at night, so she smashed everything in her room. The scene where she threatens to do damage to her enemies is really cringe; it looks like something out of a Latino telenovela where the lead girl vows to get revenge on her boyfriend for cheating.
The best example of this is the scene that takes place in the gladiatorial arena. I believe that Matilda would like to film it again if she could.

In the fight scenes, Matilda often looks like she is not in her right mind; she acts and screams like some lunatic. Especially cringe is her howl at the end of the film when she rides into the final battle with Draygan's soldiers.

Then there are scenes in which she has an odd petrified and confused facial expression, and those in which she receives compliments from Osin with a shy smile.

The only hint of good and convincing acting she showed in the scene where she sympathizes with the dying main villain.

 

How is the Hyborian world portrayed in the movie...Its nations, kingdoms, rulers, warriors, women?

MJ and Tasha took 15 minutes of their time to read an article on Wikipedia about it, randomly picked up a couple of names that sounded cool to them, and then put it all into the movie without any logic or sense.
So, in the film we will see that Hyrkanians are a small tribe of hippies who live in an idyllic copy of Hobbiton in the middle of a fairy-tale forest.

There are only a few dozen of them — mostly women and children. You will hardly see men (I noticed a typical Hyrkanian among them — a black guy), and none of them have weapons. These Hyrkanians are so peaceable that not only do they not lock the gates of their village, but they have no guards.
They may be a small tribe, but they still have a king whom we will meet near the end of the film. 

It doesn't matter that Philip Winchester doesn't look like a Hyrkanian king at all, because MJ Bassett likes to cast her friends with whom she has previously filmed(as she said), even if it's a small role like this.

The main villain of the film, Draygan (Robert Sheehan), who is presented to us as the most powerful ruler of the Hyborian world, is an autistic, irritating and hysterical freak, reminiscent of some spoiled young head of an IT company who was appointed to the director's position by his rich and powerful father, even though he is completely incompetent and retarded, and who is hated and laughed at by all the company's employees.

His army consists of about thirty warriors (who look like participants in some LARP convention), but despite that, he managed to conquer the entire Hyborian world. 

How? Is he some great wizard? No, but a scientist. The problem is that we will not see how he used his knowledge to dominate so many countries and nations; what possible weapons and machines he made to help him in this.
All we can see is some kind of magical reactor that apparently has nothing to do with technology and which Red Sonja will destroy with a simple metal stick; a remote control with a transmitter with which he tried to control Cyclops (but that gadget did not survive Sonja the acrobat who miraculously climbed the 10-meter-tall monster in two jumps and tore it off with one stroke of the sword), as well as some kind of primitive variant of cannons.

This emperor is riding in some kind of Mad Max armored vehicle, but it doesn't seem to be fireproof as Sonja's comrades will set it on fire during the attack on the fortress.                                                Draygan's attempt to create zombies from dead people, which he would use as his army, also failed.
This genius will order his soldiers to set fire to the forest where the Hyrkanians live, although a huge downpour starts that night. The outer walls of his fortress were made with ledges in the form of solid hand blocks to make it as easy as possible for his enemies to climb.

And when Sonja blows up his palace, this villain will show astonishing empathy and concern for the lives of his subjects by asking the following question to his adviser: - How many dead?

MJ and Tasha managed to make Draygan only a bad and cheap parody of some powerful and evil technocrat from modern times.

Poor Sheehan tried everything he could to somehow convince the audience that this is an original and complex villain, so he made idiotic faces, mindlessly repeated the same sentence(several times in one scene), he shouted, shook his head, whined like a neglected child, but his overacting didn't help at all. 

In the real Hyborian Age, such a ruler would have been thrown from the balcony by his subjects or drowned in pig shit. But in this film, everyone is afraid of him, although none of the viewers understand why.

However, we will see that Draygan managed to capture, no less than the king of Turan (played by some long-haired Bulgarian), whom his men brought to him from the nearby forest. This king looks and acts like an idiot too.

At the end of the film, we will learn that Sonja is eager to meet the king of Cimmeria.

Sonja's main ally and love interest is Osin the Untouchable. Not the blonde warrior Osin, Sonja's faithful friend and comrade, one of the most colorful characters from RS comics, but his parody — the dark-skinned prince of Shem (played by Luke Pasqualino, d'Artagnan from the British television series The Musketeers), a boastful pretty boy who behaves and speaks as if he fell out from some modern TV series for teenage girls.

Why is he called Untouchable? Well, in order for MJ and Tasha to make fun of Sonja's famous oath (in a similar way to what Gail Simone did in her RS run), Osin can only be with a woman who manages to touch him with a sword. But none of them have succeeded yet.
Sonja did that at the end of the movie, but she doesn't have time to make love with the prince, because she has a mission to save whales in the Vilayet Sea.

Judging by this movie, Shem borders Hyrkania. How else to explain the speed with which Osin brought his army from Shem to help Sonja in her uprising against Draygan and his troops, considering that he left a night before promising to bring help, and the very next day he returned to Hyrkania with his warriors (true—only ten, but those are serious numbers in this film when it comes to armies).
Maybe Osin was using a supersonic plane he found in the basement of Draygan's hangar.

We won't see the terrifying and powerful Hyborian warriors in this movie, because they covered the only man in the crew who looks like that (Martin Ford) with a baboon monkey mask. 

We will see another such mutant in the movie — a female, but we will never hear an explanation of who they are, and how they got among humans.

Michael Bisping is perhaps the only male in the film who appears (albeit short) to fit into the Hyborian world, and is really convincing and likable in his role, despite being given very little time in the film.

And women? Is there at least some beauty that stepped out of Frazetta's paintings or the pages of old Marvel Conan and Sonja comics?
The only such woman — Manal El-Feitury, whose pictures we posted here before, is constantly in the background in this film and is completely invisible. 

But even if she was in the foreground, it wouldn't matter because she, like all the other girls in this movie (except Sonja in that idiotic costume), is buttoned up to the neck.

But if the film doesn't feature the perfectly proportioned, exotic half-naked beauties that are the trademark of the Hyborian world, is there at least one woman who makes a impression in terms of looks and acting if we couldn't get that from the lead actress?  
There is. It's Wallis Day, who plays Draygan's bodyguard, and who really looks like she stepped out of a comic book. Other than that, her character is the only one that is interestingly written, and Wallis  manages to deliver it believably, whether in the fight scenes or the dramatic scenes. She looks dangerous, crazy, confused, vulnerable — always as her role calls for at any given moment. It's no wonder that I read praise for her in the reviews several times, that she stole every scene she was in, and even that it was a shame that she wasn't Sonja.

If the supporting actors leave a stronger impression than the two leads, then it is clear that the director made a serious mistake with the casting, but also in the way she worked with the actors she chose.

Like a king and his army — like the kingdom — wretched and poor. We will see a wooden fortification, a royal box that looks like it was made of cardboard for some school play, an arena that is missing half of the stands. Only the royal bedroom is more luxurious, but in the wrong way — because it looks like an interior from a modern movie with all the chest of drawers with fancy makeup drawers.
But all of the above, although poor, at least looks authentic.
Unlike the lake and trees under which the Hyrkanians pray to the sculpture of their Goddess, because it is painfully obvious that it is artificially created.

The CGi isn't as bad as people are saying in the reviews. The people in charge of this segment of the film managed to create a satisfying outside view of Draygan's capital. Cyclops is quite solid (an obvious homage to Ray Harryhausen which I applaud), and it's a shame we didn't get to see him demolish the royal lodge and kill courtiers, as the cut came as soon as his attack began. 

Also, we couldn't see the giant scorpion in the arena, although we saw that creature for a moment at the beginning of the film. It remains unknown whether those scenes were cut from the final version, or perhaps there was no money to film them at all.

There wasn't even enough money for extras in the arena (and those who play the audience are funny looking), so the CGI team had to intervene there as well.

That's why we shouldn't blame Draygan, who near the end of the film panicked and shouted to his soldiers: - They ambushed us! To many of them!", although he is sitting inside his fortress and Sonja brought only a dozen of her fighters on horses.

Another inexplicable mystery is where they found horses considering that Sonja previously blew up the entire emperor's palace, and earlier in the movie we saw that the Hyrkanians (except Sonja) don't have horses.

What are the action scenes like? Disappointing.

Firstly, because the viewers are prevented from seeing the action and the fight as they should. The main reason for that is bad editing — quick cutting and changing of frames. Besides, the choreography of those fights is not impressive either. Movements are wooden and slow; those scenes look like a training/exercise in which the fighters first of all take care not to injure themselves, but not like a realistic and brutal fight to the death.
Sonja's fight scenes leave the worst impression, because they are the least believable. And I'm not just referring to her superhero acrobatics from Marvel and MCU movies, but above all to the close combat of little Matilda(in which she uses a bow and arrow even though the opponents are only a meter away from her).

It is obvious that Sonja's male opponents (stuntmen and extras in the roles of soldiers), were instructed to be slower and clumsier so that Matilda could easily perform her fighting moves, which she painstakingly learned from her Bulgarian teachers. That's why you'll see funny scenes like in Mel Brooks' parody of Robin Hood; believe it or not, but two  times in this movie Draygan's soldiers will miss Matilda's body with their swords even though she didn't even  bend down. We will also see how Matilda knocks down Draygan's soldier with one slap, whose helmet falls from his head as a result of her blow. The funniest scene is when Sonja puts a chain around her guard's neck, and he pulls his head back even before Sonja pulls the chain.

Why is this movie rated R? In the whole movie, there is not a single scene in which the head or limbs are cut off? We'll just see two severed heads emerging from the bag and that's it.
I already said that there is no nudity in the film.

Many reviewers wrote that the dialogues are one of the biggest flaws of this movie, and I completely agree with that. 

Whether it's Sonja's pathetic speeches to motivate her comrades (- I choose to fight for what I believe in), or to explain her great goal to change the Hyborian world ( - This world needs leadership, moral and just), her lamentation over the fate of the planet Earth ( - The earth is bleeding.), Draygan's monologues that are cliché even for villains from the worst C production movies, but also lines ike this (- Bring me her head, and you will be my queen.), pretentious lines of the Goddess, with a heavy German accent of Veronica Ferres (-Sonja, the fate of the world is in your hands. The world needs you now more than ever), over cheap jokes about the Hawk's little dick (the gladiator played by Mike Bisping), all the way to the sleazy flirting between Osin and Sonja: - Sonja, you’ve done something to your hair. I like it!
- Stay alive, Prince Osin of Shem. One day I will claim my prize. 

The winner was the sentence that Petra said when Sonja complained to her that she only had a wooden sword and was therefore afraid of what kind of opponent would appear in the arena. Petra answers:       - You better hope it's not a giant beaver.

The cringe moments in the film are mostly related to some of those lines, although both Matilda Lutz and Sheehan equally fight for it with their crazy facial expressions.  

Ah, yes, not to forget the scene in the arena where Sonja manages to persuade Cyclops to demolish Draygan's palace and kill members of his court: - You are free. Your enemy is there!

Luckily, Cyclops understands English and is as obedient as a well-trained dog.

Don't be surprised when you hear words from modern speech in those dialogues, because if the characters of this film resemble people from our time, use technology from the 21st century, or fight against industrialization and the pollution of the Earth, why wouldn't they also use language and phrases from the modern age?

Draygan's closest collaborator is a professor. Unfortunately, we will not hear which university he attended and graduated from. Dryagan also has a minister; we don't know what he is in charge of, but considering that his emperor has conquered all Hyborian kingdoms, he is certainly not the minister of foreign affairs.

Not only is the humor in this film cheap and corny, but MJ and Tasha insert it where it doesn't belong. Thus, in the basement of the gladiatorial arena, we will see gladiators joking and having a great time like a group of guys and girls at a party, even though in the next hour they will face a fight to the death, in which many of them will die.

The costumes are just wrong, being a combination of medieval clothing and a cheap version of Game of Thrones armor.

The cinematography is too clean and polished; it has a digital, sterile look that doesn't suit a film of this genre. This is especially visible in daytime scenes.

The musical score is pretty good (although Celtic and medieval/renaissance music motifs that don't belong here often creep through the music), and better than the movie itself, so that's a serious problem, especially in the fight scenes, because then the musical theme is strong and epic, but during that time we can only see a muddy, tiny Matilda with a wet wig fighting two guys in plastic armor in front of some wooden fence.

I don't want to waste many words on the weak plot and bad pacing of this film, because most of the reviewers have already pointed out those problems — the script is a cliché sword and sorcery story with a bunch of holes, it looks like it was edited from a television series that was chopped up, and then those parts were hastily put together into some loose whole. So we have characters that suddenly appear and disappear, characters that have no motivation, or they're not developed enough (so it's impossible for you to feel empathy when some of the good guys and girls die, or to get excited when one of the villains gets killed), much of what happens in the film is unexplained, something happens too fast, and something drags on unnecessarily. Whether this is really a consequence of shortening the filming material, or the director's inability to connect everything into a meaningful and coherent whole, we will not know until, and if, the directors' cut appears.

But even the extended version cannot repair the terrible impression left by the film's idiotic ending, in which Sonja forgives her enemy by offering him comfort and support in his dying hour.

Such an ending was shocking even for those viewers who had not read any RS comics (the Real Sonja would just look at her defeated enemy with contempt and ride off leaving him to die, or she would pierce him with a sword to make sure he wouldn't survive).
What is the message MJ Bassett wanted to send to the viewers? That we should forgive tyrants and mass murderers? That we should feel sorry for them because they had an unhappy childhood. That evil should not be punished? If this is MJ Bassett's understanding of the compassion she talked about in explaining what her film is about, then it is a perverted and complete misunderstanding of this trait.

Conclusion:

The best thing about this movie is that there won't be a sequel, which is easy to tell based on its non-existent distribution in USA theaters, and low viewership ratings (currently 4.4 on IMDB and 2,5 on Letteterboxd), and because it will serve as a perfect example of what a Red Sonja movie shouldn't be.

I don't know what kind of contract Millennium Films has regarding the rights to the film adaptation of Red Sonja, but I hope that it is limited in time, because it is the only chance that some new studio and director sometime in the future will make a film about the greatest heroine of the fantasy genre, as it should be, and as Sonja deserves.