St. George Shoots the Dragon

St. George Slays the Dragon is a Serbian war drama film directed by Srđan Dragojević and written by Dušan Kovačević. The movie premiered on March 11, 2009. With a budget of around €5 million, it was one of the most expensive Serbian movie productions to date. Some of the funds have been donated by the governments of Serbia (€1.55 million) and Republika Srpska (€750,000) who deemed the movie to be of national importance. Kovačević's script is based on his 1984 theater play that was staged to great success in Belgrade's Atelje 212 and Novi Sad's Serbian National Theatre. Plot The film starts with the Kingdom of Serbia, part of the Balkan League, battling the remaining Ottoman forces during the First Balkan War in 1912 when a Serbian force with soldiers Gavrilo and Dorde in command is ambushed. Gavrilo is severely wounded and loses an arm in the attack but Dorde saves him. The story then moves 2 years forward with the outbreak of World War I in 1914; namely, the crucial Battle of Cer, first allied victory in World War I. It is largely set in and around a small village by the Sava river near Serbia's border with Austria-Hungary.