Our Father

When Dejan (Vučić Perović) arrives at a small Church-run rehabilitation centre, under the stewardship of charismatic yet suffocating Father Branko (Boris Isaković), he witnesses a cloistered violence that shatters the monastic peace of the Serbian countryside. Operating on the twisted logic of unchecked power and hostility, the Father forgoes a healing touch and gives brutal beatings to addicts who break the rules. As Dejan adjusts to his lot and rises in the ranks of the small community, he learns the complexities of the wretched system and begins to navigate the dynamics of friendship. However, when evidence of the centre’s vicious tactics leaks online, Dejan and the others must defend a strategy that could easily lead to unutterable tragedy.

Following his 2014 documentary In The Dark, Our Father, inspired by true events, is a powerful work of fiction from director Goran Stankovic. It developed from an interest in cult mechanics and a wealth of research into a real-life leaked video of a similar crime. As adept in his investigation as in his ecclesiastical film style, Stankovic weaves an unorthodox tapestry, one grounded by Perović’s mesmeric and tacitly devastating performance, and given an understated horror through cinematographer Dragan Vildović’s omniscient gaze.

As the men attempt to locate a sense of camaraderie despite their atrocious circumstances, Stanković interrogates the knife’s edge on which authority balances, asserting that truth must rise to disrupt the once-accepted order, even if it leaves the forsaken patients even more marooned than when they arrived.

DOROTA LECH