The Trap: Belgrade life through a cold, pure lens

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ***½

That age-old question "How can you live with yourself?" takes on new and urgent meaning in The Trap, which is now out on DVD courtesy of Film Movement. An award-winning Serbian/German/Hungarian co-production (in the Serbo-Croatian language), directed by Srdan Golubovic from a screenplay by a trio of writers, the film is beyond "dark." But the film is not just some "artsy" Eastern European concoction; among its several prizes is an Audience Award for Best Film at the Trieste Fest. Audience awards are mostly given to films that are easily accessible -- which The Trap most definitely is. But it is also an artful, tightly-made (even at 106 minutes) movie that quickly rivets you.

How far one is prepared to go in order to save someone he loves sets the wheels of the plot in motion, and because our main character Mladen is a decent, caring fellow, the particularly nasty curve that life throws him (life in today's Belgrade) makes his choices all that more difficult. Were he a more typical me-first kind of guy, how much easier it would be to make the necessary decisions. But our hero -- and he is indeed a hero of sorts -- does his best in very difficult circumstances. To say more would reveal too much.

Director Golubovic certainly knows his ways around story, visuals, dialog and character development. He reveals, with the help of his writers, cast and crew, just enough about each character to keep us fascinated, needing/wanting to know more. There is a scene that left me wondering just how stupid or perhaps lazy are the Belgrade police, but this may have to do with cultural differences I do not comprehend.

The cast, with the exception of the ubiquitous and always excellent Miki Manojlovic (a favorite of Emir Kusturica who is approaching some 100 movie and TV appearances), is entirely new to me, but the performers provide all that their role requires. The Trap, finally, is such a strong, professional film in almost every way that it difficult to imagine that we will not hear from Mr. Golubovic again.