The Weight of Chains is a 2010 Canadiandocumentary film directed byBoris Malagurski.^[1] The film argues that thebreakup of Yugoslavia was "orchestrated by Western powers in furtherance of imperial ambitions".^[2] According to the filmmaker, it also presents stories of "good people in evil times".^[3] It was released on December 17, 2010.

The Weight of Chains
Official poster
Directed by	Boris Malagurski
Screenplay by	Boris Malagurski
Produced by	Boris Malagurski
Starring	Michel Chossudovsky Lewis MacKenzie Vlade Divac John Perkins Michael Parenti Scott Taylor Jože Mencinger James Bissett John Bosnitch Branislav Lečić Škabo Srđa Trifković Slobodan Samardžić
Edited by	Boris Malagurski Anastasia Trofimova Marko Janković
Music by	Novo Sekulović Jasna Đuran Kevin Macleod
Production company	Malagurski Cinema
Distributed by	Journeyman Pictures (Worldwide)
Release dates	December 17, 2010 (2010-12-17) (Australia) February 19, 2011 (2011-02-19) (Canada)
Running time	124 minutes
Country	Canada
Languages	English, Serbian
Budget	$21,850

The sequel,The Weight of Chains 2, was released on November 20, 2014,^[4] while the last part of the trilogy,The Weight of Chains 3, was released on September 28, 2019.^{[citation needed]}

The film was sponsored bySerbian diaspora community organizations, theCentre for Research on Globalization, and private individuals amongst others.^[1][5][6]

The film uses re-compiled archival footage extensively,^[7] which was provided at no cost byRadio Television Serbia.^[8]

The film provides a background history ofYugoslavia, from the medievalBattle of Kosovo to the 1912 incorporation ofKosovo into theKingdom of Serbia and then to the formation ofJosip Broz Tito's Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after World War II. It discusses the persecution ofKosovo Serbs after World War II, as well as alleged plans by Nationalists to create an ethnically pureGreater Albania.

The film claims that U.S. interests in Yugoslavia promoted "a market-oriented Yugoslav economic structure" through theNational Endowment for Democracy, and theG17 Plus as part of a policy of "privatization through liquidation" that increased ethnic tensions in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Western nations, both openly diplomatically and covertly militarily, supported separatist groups and encouraged conflict so that NATO could be installed as peacekeepers for their own interests. A cigarette factory that wasbombed by NATO was later bought byPhilip Morris, which the film presents as an example, that the purpose of the war was economic colonization of the country.

The film claims Yugoslavian leaders such asSlobodan Milošević,Franjo Tuđman andAlija Izetbegović were focused only on power, and not on the well-being of their people and they, along with the local media, mobilized public opinion in favor of conflict. These tensions led to the 1990sYugoslav Wars, which culminated in theKosovo war.

The film presents thefall of Srebrenica "as a stage-managed ploy by the Bosnians and Americans to justify NATO military intervention against Serbia".^[2] IntervieweeSrđa Trifković asserts that there are "trustworthy witnesses" who claim thatBill Clinton had indicated that "5,000 dead Muslims would be the price of NATO intervention" and that these witnesses believe that "Srebrenica was deliberately sacrificed byIzetbegović in order to provide this burnt offering to theWhite House". The film also presents the Srebrenica "civilian death toll as no larger than the number of Serbs killed in the surrounding area".^[2]

The film includes interviews with the widow ofJosip Reihl-Kir (former police chief ofOsijek, Croatia) and the widow ofMilan Levar along with the story ofSrđan Aleksić, who saved aMuslim man from an attack by soldiers of theVRS. There is footage of the villageVrhbarje in Bosnia whereSerbs andBosniaks lived together up to the end of theBosnian war, but were then separated – as the Muslim Bosniaks, left for their own entity.

The film argues that, in the aftermath of the war, the policies of theInternational Monetary Fund and theWorld Bank further demonstrated that Eastern European states were not meant to be equals with theEuropean Union and the West, but rather were only seen as markets for Western goods and sources of cheap labor. The film portrays an increase in the debt of the former Yugoslav countries by showing how much tax money each citizen of the former Yugoslavia would have to pay in order for their countries to be debt-free.

The interviewees in the film include:^[6][9][10]

• Rade Aleksić — Whose sonSrđan Aleksić, lost his life while defending aMuslim friend - anethnic Bosniak^[11] - who was being attacked by a group of soldiers of theVRS.
• James Bissett — Former Canadian diplomat who served as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary toYugoslavia,Albania, andBulgaria. Defence witness forSlobodan Milošević.^[12]
• John Bosnitch — Canadian journalist ofSerbian descent, consultant and political activist.
• Michel Chossudovsky — Canadian economist and professor of economics at theUniversity of Ottawa.
• Vlade Divac — RetiredYugoslav as well as United States'NBA professional basketball player, humanitarian worker
• Blasko Gabric — Founder and 'President' of 'Fourth Yugoslavia', park located inSubotica, Serbia^[13]
• Branislav Lečić — Former Serbian minister of culture in the government of the lateZoran Đinđić.
• Lewis MacKenzie —UE,CM,CMM,MSC,O.Ont,CD, retired Canadian general, author and mediacommentator, established and commanded SectorSarajevo as part ofUNPROFOR inYugoslavia in 1992.^[10]
• Veran Matić — chief executive officer ofB92.
• Jože Mencinger — Slovenian lawyer, economist, and politician who served asMinister of Economy of theRepublic of Slovenia and the Slovenian vice president of government for economic coordination from 1990 to 1991.
• Michael Parenti — American political scientist, historian, and cultural critic.
• John Perkins – Author, best known for his bookConfessions of an Economic Hit Man.
• Slobodan Samardžić — Serbian academic and politician, and the former minister forKosovo in theGovernment of Serbia.
• Škabo (Bosko Cirkovic) —Rapper, beatmaker and producer fromBelgrade,Serbia, who is also the founder ofBeogradski Sindikat.
• Scott Taylor – Canadian journalist who specializes in military and war reporting.
• Zvonimir Trajkovic — Described on the film's website as:- Serbian political advisor toSlobodan Milošević (1990 – '93) andRadovan Karadžić ('94 – '97).^[10]
• Srđa Trifković — Serbian-American writer, foreign affairs editor for thepaleoconservative magazineChronicles 1998–2009, and former unofficial spokesperson for theRepublika Srpska government in 1995.^[14] Defence witness for a number of convicted Serbianwar criminals.^[15][16]
• Visar Ymeri —Kosovo activist and politician.

The Weight of Chains was screened at the 2011Beldocs International Documentary Film Festival,Belgrade,Serbia^[17] and, as part of the 2011Beldocs eho Documentary Film Festival, inNovi Sad,^[18][19]Zrenjanin,Kragujevac,Niš,Vršac andAleksinac,^[20] in Serbia. It was also screened inLondon, England as part of theBalkan Cinema Strand at theRaindance Film Festival 2011,^[21] at the 2011Moving Image Film Festival 2011 inToronto, Canada,^[22] at theInternational Festival of New Latin American Cinema inHavana,Cuba,^[23] and at the Balkan New Film Festival inOslo,Norway.^[24][25] The film has also had cinema screenings in Australia, Serbia, Canada, and the United States.^[26]

The film was also due to be shown in the 2011 programme of Serbian film directorEmir Kusturica at theKüstendorf Film and Music Festival. However two days before the festival began, the film was removed from the schedule without explanation.^[27]

The film was broadcast in early 2015 onEurochannel^[28] TV networks.

In June 2012, a protest in front of theRadio Television Serbia building requested the airingThe Weight of Chains on Serbia'spublic broadcaster.^[29] In front of 200 protesters, Malagurski said thatAleksandar Tijanić, the director of RTS, had told him that despite positive reviews,The Weight of Chains couldn't be aired on RTS because it had already been aired onHappy TV, Malagurski claimed only clips had been shown, which he said was corroborated by documents from Happy TV.^[30] Malagurski also said that "Serbia is the only country in the region and in almost all of Europe, whereThe Weight of Chains has not been shown by the national public broadcaster".^[31]

The film has received mixed responses,^{[according to whom?]} these include(ordered by publication date):

Toni Ti, writing inBrightest Young Things, aWashington DC andNew York-based web magazine, noted that the film "brings up a lot of issues the public may not be aware of". However, she describes the "often-gratingly blatant bias of the film maker". Malagurski, she says "employs a quippy sarcastic tone that sounds incredibly petulant and at times, too amateur for the gravitas subject matter". She goes on, "overall, spending 30 minutes on Kosovo and barely mentioning what really happened in Srebrenica leaves me questioning the director’s choice in taking this approach". Concluding, "what is he trying to show? It can be quite baffling at times".^[32]

Vladislav Panov ofPečat, a weekly political magazine in Serbia, wrote that the film is "very convincing" and that "Malagurski covered the facts and scenes in the film just asMichael Moore does in his documentaries. And just like that film maker, obviously Boris' main role model, Malagurski located the source of evil inWashington and big American corporations which had come to buy us out after instructing and preparing 'irrational slaughters of primitive Balkan peoples' ", but added that "Boris bravely detected the main domestic culprits inG17 Plus in skimming the cream on behalf of foreigners".^[33]

Konstantin Kilibarda, writing for the blogPolitics, Respun, described the film as a "misguided attempt to give an alternative account of the wars in the former Yugoslavia", and that the film maker "attempts to minimize, deflect and distort the well established role of Serbian leaders in the former Yugoslavia in pursuing a militant nationalist program since the late 1980s, that sought to reclaim Kosovo through the imposition of martial law, as well as create 'ethnically compact' territories that would link Serbs in Serbia with Serbian minorities in Bosnia and Croatia".^[34]

HistorianPredrag Marković, in a discussion atSingidunum University, said that the film talks with a language understandable to young Westerners, and that "the author, with a fine irony, distances himself in regards to the local figures and presents a very complex problem, evading self-justification that many domestic directors are prone to."^[35]

Tristan Miller, writing in the U.K.'sSocialist Standard, wrote "the film’s flimsier claims and arguments can be explained as the work of a naïve but well-meaning patriot, but others cannot be so innocently excused" ... "for all the effort he spends decrying the dishonest propagandising which fuelled the Yugoslavian implosion, he certainly has no qualms employing many of the same tricks when it suits his own agenda". Concluding, "he has a very low estimation of the intelligence of his audience".^[2]

Both Miller and Kilibarda were sympathetic to the film's claim that Western economic policies contributed to social instability in the buildup to theYugoslav Wars.^[2] Kilibarda also stated that "Western media often engaged in collective blame of the Serbs" in the mid-1990s.^[34]

Lukáš Perný, writing in theSlovakZem a Vek magazine, noted that the film presents information that helps the viewer to understand the interests behind the "colonization" of Yugoslavia.^[36]

Serbian film criticVladan Petković described the film as "pro-Serbian conspiracy theorist propaganda". According to Petković, "the film is promoted as having been made inMichael Moore's style, but it totally lacks Moore’s characteristic qualities. Instead Malagurski interviews journalists, politicians, ex-ambassadors and historians, who all promote the same one-sided story of Serbia as a victim of Western capitalist imperialism".^[37]

Amir Telibećirović ofTačno.net, in his review of the film, described it as: "new model of indoctrination based on the philosophy ofSlobodan Milošević and theSerbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, through beautified propaganda, lies and manipulation.^[38]

• Weight of Chains atIMDb
• Official website
• The Weight of Chains onYouTube