The Dagger (1999 film)

{{Italic title}}

{{Infobox film

| name = The Dagger
Нож
Nož

| image = The Dagger (film).jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| director = Miroslav Lekić

| producer = Bojan Maljević
Bojana Maljević

| writer = Miroslav Lekić
Slobodan Stojanović

| screenplay =

| story =

| based_on = {{based on|Nož, a novel|Vuk Drašković}}

| narrator =

| starring = Žarko Laušević
Bojana Maljević

| music = Toma Babović
Aleksandar Milić

| cinematography = Veljko Despotović

| editing = Branislav Milošević

| studio =

| distributor = Monte Royal Pictures

| released = {{Film date|1999}}

| runtime = 135 minutes

| country = Serbia and Montenegro

| language = Serbian

| budget =

}}

The Dagger ({{langx|sr|Нож|Nož|Knife}}) is a 1999 Serbian 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. According to Vuk Drašković, the original novel is loosely based on the Pridvorica massacre.{{cite news|last1=Stojanović|first1=Stefan|last2=Latinović|first2=Petar|authorlink=|url=https://mondo.rs/Info/Drustvo/a1475425/vuk-draskovic-knjige-biografija-aleksandar.html |title=VUK DRAŠKOVIĆ EKSKLUZIVNO! Ulazim PRERUŠEN kod njega, a on mi kaže - "Učinio sam zločin, ruke sam o Srbe okrvavio" |agency=Mondo |date=26 May 2021 |access-date=18 April 2023 |language=sr}}

In 1999, the film was screened at the 13th Montenegro Film Festival, and gained five featured awards.{{cite web|url=http://filmskifestivalhercegnovi.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32&Itemid=21|title=13. filmski festival|year=1999|work=Montenegro Film Festival|publisher=Freshidea|accessdate=1 December 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.monteroyalpictures.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57&Itemid=62&lang=en|title=The Dagger|year=2011|work=Monte Royal|publisher=© Monte Royal Pictures International|accessdate=1 December 2011}} 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.