AllMovie

Belgrade circa 1995 was not an easy place to live, but one Serbo-Croatian family gets by as best they can in director Ljubisa Samardzic's second directorial effort, Ledina (Bare Ground). Petar (Nikola Nikic) lives with his Serbian father (Dragan Bjelogrlic) and Croatian mother (Ksenija Pajic) in a very ethnically mixed neighborhood on the outskirts of Belgrade. All of their neighbors harbor various beliefs regarding this diversity, based on numerous personal experiences that tend to inflame intense emotional -- and oftentimes physically brutal -- responses. Within weeks, Slobodan Milosevic will sign the Dayton Peace Accords, which many citizens hope will bring peace to the country. The reality, however, is much more harsh, as Petar learns first-hand the extent of distrust and rampant racism that permeate throughout his neighborhood.