The movie “St. George Shoots the Dragon” directed by Srdjan Dragojevic (“Pretty Village, Pretty Flame“, “The Wounds“, “We Are Not Angels 1,2“) is based on a highly acclaimed theatre play of the same name written in 1984 by Dusan Kovacevic, who also wrote the movie’s screenplay, which is based on a true story that Dusan Kovacevic was told by his grandfather.
“St. George Shoots the Dragon” is set in 1914 in a village in Serbia on the bank of the river Sava, the natural border with the mighty Austro-Hungarian Empire. The population of the village is divided between two radically opposed factions – the able-bodied potential army recruits and the invalid veterans from the previous two Balkan wars. There is bitter animosity between the two groups.
Soon, at the start of the First World War, the healthy population is mobilized. The invalids left behind in the village try to take advantage of the soldiers’ wives and sisters. News about this reaches the Serbian soldiers in the trenches a few days before the expected enemy attack. To prevent a mutiny, the Serbian High Command decides to take the invalids to the front line and thus deal with “the inconvenience”.
These events are the backdrop for an ill-fated love triangle between the village gendarme George (Lazar Ristovski), his wife Katarina (Natasa Janjic) and the young war cripple Gavrilo (Milutin Milosevic) 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 George, she still has affection for Gavrilo, which is a source of friction between them two.
“St. George Shoots The Dragon” which will be probably presented at 62nd Cannes Film Festival also stars Zoran Cvijanovic, Dragan Nikolic, Boris Milivojevic, Branislav Lecic, Mladen Andrejevic, Srdjan Timarov, Predrag Vasic, Bojan Zirovic, Milica Ostojic, Milena Dravic, Milena Predic and Slobodan Ninkovic
