The Yugoslav wars were a hellish fever dream of humanity at its worst, a bloody cocktail of genocide, betrayal, and shattered souls. It's into this cauldron of chaos that Alastair Newton Brown's "Here Be Dragons" dives headfirst, dragging us along for a ride that's equal parts heart-pounding thriller and gut-wrenching moral labyrinth.
David Locke, our war-weary protagonist, is not just any war crimes investigator. He's a man who's stared into the abyss and had it leer right back at him, a modern-day Ahab haunted by the spectre of Ivan Novak-a ghost of a war criminal believed to be dead but at the same time, believed to be quite possibly alive and living in Belgrade.
Locke's journey to Belgrade is a descent into the belly of the beast. The city's a bruised veteran of history, its streets soaked in blood and secrets. And Locke, driven by a concoction of duty, vengeance, and something darker, is the perfect guide through this maze of moral ambiguity. He infiltrates Novak's new life, getting chummy with his lounge-singer wife and psychologically scarred son. It's a relationship built on lies and manipulation, a fragile dance on the edge of a razor blade.
But this isn't your typical shoot-em-up thriller. No, Brown has crafted something far more insidious. The tension here isn't from car chases or explosions but from the claustrophobic grip of Locke's mission. The real horror lies in the questions the film forces us to confront. Can a man who's committed unspeakable atrocities ever find redemption? Can we, as a society, afford to forgive? Are we even the same people that we were decades ago?
Nathan Sapsford, who plays Locke, delivers a performance that's all clenched jaws and haunted eyes, a man barely holding it together as he stalks his prey whilst navigating the spiritually enervating realities of his lived experience. Props must however go to Vladimir Gvojic, who as Novak filled every scene with a measured elegiac intensity that allowed him to draw out the music in the dialogue and left me hanging on every word. Their interactions are the heart of the film, a deadly game of cat and mouse where the lines between hunter and hunted blur until you're not sure who's who anymore.
As a first feature film, "Here Be Dragons" is an ambitious endeavour that overcomes apparent budgetary shortfalls with creative framing, succulent cinematography and a thoroughly excellent score that serves as the perfect complement to the dark and brooding, atmosphere.
Though the final act brings out the big guns, don't come here looking for an action movie, this is so much more than that. It's a film that crawls under your skin and stays there, a stark reminder that the ghosts of the past are never truly laid to rest.
So, grab a stiff drink, buckle up, and prepare to be dragged through the muck of human nature. Brown's "Here Be Dragons" is a dark, relentless trip into the heart of darkness, and it's not one you'll soon forget.
