The Dagger () is a 1999 Yugoslav war film directed by Miroslav Lekić. The film was written by Miroslav Lekić, Slobodan Stanojević and Igor Bojović. The plot is based on Vuk Drašković's novel of the same name. Set in the 1960s and observed from the point of view of Alija Osmanović, a young Muslim medical student raised by a single mother, his entire family was slaughtered and his baby brother kidnapped by Chetniks during the Second World War, as the aftermath of a violent family feud between the Jugović (Christian) and Osmanović (Muslim) families. He not only learns that the Osmanović family were once a branch of the Jugović family who converted to Islam during the Ottoman era, but that, unbeknownst to his mother, he himself was a baby taken from the Jugović family, after the massacre on Christmas Eve in 1942. With both families now extinct, and Alija, as the descendant of both, torn between two cultures and two identities, he struggles to maintain his inner peace, desperately searching for his long lost step-brother and fighting the prejudices against the romantic relationship he has with a Serbian classmate. The film is based on fictive events of World War II and is centered on the atrocious crimes committed during that period, in particular the Jugović and Osmanović families. In 1999, the film was screened at the 13th Montenegro Film Festival, and gained five featured awards. The film also earned the “Fipresci Award” for Directing, five acting awards in the Niš Film Festival and the “Crystal Star” at the Brussels Film Festival. Cast Žarko Laušević : Alija Osmanovic / Ilija Jugovic Bojana Maljević : Milica Jankovic Aleksandar Berček : Halil 'Sikter' Efendija Ljiljana Blagojević : Rabija Osmanovic Petar Božović : Sabahudin Aga / Atifaga Tanovic Velimir 'Bata' Zivojinovic : Nicifor Jugovic Nikola Kojo : Milan Vilenjak Svetozar Cvetković : Selim Osmanovic Josif Tatić : Kemal Osmanovic Dragan Nikolić : Hodza Dragan Maksimović : Zulfikar References External links 1999 films 1990s war drama films Serbian war drama films Films set in Bosnia and Herzegovina Films about race and ethnicity Films set in Yugoslavia 1999 drama films War films set in Partisan Yugoslavia Serbian World War II films Yugoslav World War II films 1990s Serbian-language films