Everyone- We miss the 90’s Balkan people- *Sweating Intensifies*

Lmaoo... Dude describing the place where he shot/got shot and the reporter asks... "How does it feel coming back here?" Trying to get an emotional response, and the dude's just like.. "I don't care they were assholes." 😩👌😂

'Fuck his father's beard!' What a fantastic curse! I must start using it.

"No cameraman was killed during the filming of this episode."

"God? To those who have plenty, he gives more. The unlucky ones, he kill" what a powerful statement...

Tradition or not, Albania or not: if someone would kill my child and wouldn't be punished accordingly by the law, then I would go after him with a vengeance. I think every parent who loves his children could understand this. Kind of like in A Time to Kill (the movie)

Balkans, where everyone can be John Wick.

"Fuck his father's beard" Man that had me rolling lol

don't worry about my wife. she's a man, not a woman. classic

"I don't care. They were assholes." WORD.

"Gjakmarrja" is Blood feud in Albania. Too bad it's still prevalent in Albania today, it's horrible. My family was apart of one a long time ago.

I feel so bad for him. Imagine losing everything; you're sons, you're dog and at that point joy. He has no legacy, no children to carry his father's name. Nothing to show for the life he's lived. All because of some scumbag who kills his children. Life isn't fair.

Why are people in the comment section so dumb? they keep saying they have never heard of this, and then they say they are from Croatia or Serbia. this is only an Albanian and Montenegrin practice, so it makes sense why you never heard. i am from Montenegro and I very much know about this tradition. some of you should stop pretending to be such experts

I don't know what's the fascination with the picture of Balkan being some wilderness, wild frontier. I live here. That is some 18th., 19th century stuff. You all think we live in huts and go to war parties. I can walk trough the streets at night without fear. I can walk trough Zagreb, Belgrade. Nobody cared. Can you say the same in Harlem, slums in Paris, neighborhoods in London, south Central, Compton.

I appreciate the upload of the entire thing.

I first became acquainted with "the Canon" and blood feuds in Albania through Ismail Kadare's Broken April--an extremely powerful, unforgettable book I read in Greek translation over a decade ago. It is incredible that this archaic system of revenge, with its myriad governing rules, is still in existence. This video gives a good synopsis of the underlying madness.

the cab drivers in all these stories: 👁👄👁

Thank you so much for sharing this. My mother's side is from Montenegro, and I have lived there for a good part of my life. It interests me so much when you guys post about the Balkans, especially former Yugoslavia. Not much of the western world knows anything about this part of the world. The struggles from the wars have left a lot of people in despair and sorrow, and it is pretty sad to see. Thank you Vice.

That last little scene after the credits was chilling.

It's a sad situation and I feel badly for all concerned, but I feel most for the children. No child should have to grow up in such conditions. A child's life should be happy and carefree, with no worries about being killed or where there next meal is going to come from. My heart goes out to all of these kids.

In Balkan every family have one John Wick.

7:34 Holy crap, he had served in the army AND graduated from college by 23 years old?? And here I thought getting my degree in 3 years was fast!

i felt so bad for the kids

Oh man the cute little Albanian kids touched my heart, that is so tragic they cannot leave the house for fear of being murdered. Even so, these coupes up children behave so well and have such pure hearts!

Thank you Vice for putting these documentaries up for everyone to watch. If I could afford HBO I would get this awesome content, thank you guys!

i am from kosova i had this happen to my family but my family forgave the other family. it all happened because of a soccer game we played. We were just kids wanting to play soccer so went to play on this field we are all around the age of 12 and younger. This man showed up on the field and swore at us and threatened to beat us up. But like in most families we always have that one crazy cousin, that isn't afraid of anything. I am not going to lie at that age we all run away. But that crazy cousin stood his ground so I didn't leave his side. that man start to push my cousin around we were yelling at him to let him go. the man went grabbed a large stick and started beating my cousin's legs. and my cousin stood his ground still. The man was confused so he hit my cousin harder by this time you can see my cousin's legs turn red. at this point, the man stopped my cousin was so angry he didn't feel any pain he went and grabbed two big rocks. I don't know how he was able to lift them at that age. he was going to throw them at the man's face but we all stopped him. I told that man don't worry we got men too. the first thing we did is we went home and told our grandpa. my grandpa was a nice man he never wanted trouble. but don't let that fool you he was also the most feared man in that city most of the older people knew my grandpa because of his past they all respected him. that man was younger generation so he didn't know who my grandpa was or our last name. So I and my grandpa and my two cousins went back to the field to confront the man. That man came in front of us and I've never seen my grandpa that mad in my life my grandpa yelled at him "I am going to kill you" and "how could you do this to a child". now let's go back to the part where everyone knew my grandpa. so that man's father had passed away during the war. so that Man's only elder was his uncle which knows my grandpas and knows how big my family is. the elder man heard my grandpa yelling and comes over to see what was going he gets in front of my grandpa Beggs my grandpa to forgive him. because the man is an orphan. but that man-made remarks towards my grandpa. it was so hard to pull away my grandpa from the area it took 3 men so we left the field and went home. if it was for my grandpa that man would be dead. we tried to be civil so we went to the police station to report the man. But like most places in Kosova everything is corrupt. The police didn't do anything. Bear in mind I have 7 uncles and my grandpa had 7 brothers which all had a lot of kids. and this only my close cousins. everyone in the family heard about it. my grandpa set in motion the feud and said blood must be paid. it was depressing because I knew that man's son I was friends with him before all this he was scared for his dad's life. That man couldn't leave to go to work every day my uncles waiting for the revenge in my family tradition, you can't kill a man on his own property you cant kill any woman or children. we younger boys could've gotten our revenge on the boy. but he wasn't the one who did us harm. for weeks he was stuck in his house. The man's mother begged my grandma for forgiveness in tears begging to spare his life. we all saw blood and we wanted blood. but my grandma told me this which I think broke everyone's hearts. Don't put that mother in pain because she said I will cry for her because she is going to lose a son the same I could lose one of you. My grandma put herself in that mother's position. I am not going to lie we were about 100 deep that night ready to go. my uncle loved his mother and always listened to her. my grandma convinced my uncle not to kill that man. anytime you forgive another family terms have to be set. the random person that's not related to any party goes and meets with the other family to start the forgiveness. if it was for my grandpa the feud would still happen he wanted revenge Terms were set. The feud ended. or did it !!!!

Anyone else notice the way she walks? Mmmm!!!

I was in Shkodra and firstly i met the best and most kind people and trust me i traveled all around the world and i never met any people like Albanians from North, my godfathers, soul brothers. And even if some of Serbians will call me an idiot i will take it because they will never know that there is more in life than just hate, there is trust and these people u can trust and they are honorable. I saw other Albanian documentaries concerning blood debt and every time i just could not comment on it and i know why.

Its called Vendetta and its not only a Balkan thing. Many local areas have this ''tradition''

Someone has to make the choice not to take vengeance for the sake of the future generations.

It broke my heart when he was talking about his little doggy 😔

Love the way these people express their words.

We say "taxista" for cab driver in Brazil too.

Outstanding report! Thanks!

Hvala za ovo - thanks for this vice :)

Every comment section for every video related to the Balkans is always among the absolute worst shit I read on KZfaq

Very impressive documentary. No words.

“Then you’d lose your cameraman” 😂😂 I love my homelands humour 😂

The "debt of blood" has been a traditional "law" in diverse societies - from gang related violence in LA to Sicilian family vs family wars that can last for generations. This particular case is a very local one (some rural areas of Albania and Monte Negro) and does not generalize well to the Balkans. They might as well call it "Feudal Family Law in Europe". Wouldn't make much difference. Now, there are obviously two different kinds of this "law" in the case presented. One kind is simply vigilante justice - notice extremely mild punishments for murder (15 years max). The other kind is killing of family members who were not involved with the original offence (the innocents). Do not conflate the two.

I read about Montenegro being crazy but damn after seeing this I'm convinced. I'm a retired veteran teacher of 32 years. I thought my job was demanding working in inner city schools, I feel for that teacher in this documentary; that lady must do it all! She along with all the other good people trying to get them fools from killing each other I applaud their efforts.

This is happening in Montenegro, not in Serbia, It's not part of Serbian tradition. Just to be clear.

When I was a kid growing up in Turkey I remember watching movies about blood feud and reading news stories about them. I used to think it was mostly a backward tradition peculiar to Eastern part of Turkey. Apparently it's a very ancient custom existed long before the court systems in most tribal societies.

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Blood feuds aren't that bad. Blood feuds weren't like they are today, as a matter of fact, children aren't supposed to be in blood feuds. That's not how the gjakmarrja works in Albanian culture, the Kanun e Lekë Dukagjini. Only those who are 16 above can be in it, because they are men.

A great mini-doc! Extremely courageous for you & your camera-man to complete this work so close to the danger. Very well done and produced. I hope to see many more Katarina Petrovic produced documentaries. Sorry for sounding fanatic but Katarina, your inner beauty shines so bright through your expressions and eyes that one can't help but find you amazingly beautiful and captivating to listen to. There's no doubt that you'll go far in your career. Ju bëni atë më mirë se kushdo mund të!

Its the "Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini" not "Canon".

I'm from Bulgaria(east balkans), it looks like it's an western Balkans thing since I've never head of such "law".

What a bullshit lol. I'm from Croatia, me + all in my house never heard of this bullshit.

Vice, I love watching your videos high but how am I supposed to read that fast when I'm baked

Feel so bad for him. He tries to have his guard up but he's deeply destroyed and it shows.

OMG LAST WORDS OF THE KID

I know I can't be the only one whose become addicted to VICE stories. Some of the best reporting I've seen.

If there's one good thing about Hoxha, it was that he stopped this practice. That and attempting to bunker rush IRL.

I'm from the Balkans, don't know what it's like in Montenegro or Albania or Kosovo, but I never heard of this. I mean I knew it existed 100 or so years ago (not everywhere) but even today, I'm kind of shocked.

Sad . Never ending cycle . On a positive note journalist is beautiful .

My problem with this kind of justice/revenge is the cycle of hate that wont be broken

It looks like a circle what is very very very very very very very hard to break. Poor children.

For all you bleeding hearts out there: An eye for an eye doesn't leave the world blind, it leaves two people with one less eye each.

2 years ago we had a substitute teacher from Albania for 3 weeks and she told us about the blood debt and how many caught up in it never leave their house and have very small windows or no windows at all to not get shot so i'll give this a watch, should be interesting.

The only person who “deserves” to die for murder is the murderer. Not innocent children or family members. It’s barbaric and inhuman. Only a monster would do that.

I think it’s great that the interviewer spoke the native language and held ancestry there, it seemed to make the people trust her more.

They do the same thing in Corsica it's called Vendetta,I believe the island has the highest murder rate per capita in Europe for only a population of like 300,000

Fascinating!

really good reporting.

Most people: That's sound about right. My point of view: this is not really justice but revenge. This two things are always confused.

The closing remarks by the isolated boy is the actual results of blood feud of any kind.

Thank you Shane. You folks are doing fucking brilliant work!

Your stories are Interesting, I wish you would slow down the Translations type ! There’s nothing like getting the WHOLE story

Correction The Vice! : Blood depth "Kanun" are Albanian code of honor and was never "Balkans" en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanun_(Albania)

wtf albanian muslims and catholics don't have rivalry in the least... although there are religious people, albania is constitutionally secular as are a great majority of people (religious albanians are mainly limited to the diaspora; kosovo, western macedonia where the regime of enver hoxha failed to restrict religion as a whole) but never ever will you find discrimination because we do not identify ourselves with our religion as much as we do with the country.

it would be worth watching had Vice translated this audibly

Well, hearing the kids talk made me emotionally.

This is not in some parts of Balkan, its in very specific parts, at least today - Albania.

I felt very sorry about the family. I study political anthropology as a hobby and this is why there is law of the state and shows why a working judiciary system is very important.

thanks my left ear really eenjoyed this

sad,breaks my heart for the children,a child should grow up as one

I'm from the Balkans and I hear of this fro my parents but it's apparently only present in rural Albania now.

Blood feud is a part of the historical Albanian patriarchal society. The albanian society structure is ancient, equal to the society of Homer’s time where «blood, oath, honor, food, guest and revenge» are main principles. We have been able to maintain our laws despite 2000 years of struggle, independence, invaders etc etc. We call it «Kanuni» and it means «law». The word is said to be ancient greek, but its true meaning can be explained in albanian «Ka-nu» which means «one who ties it, ore one who puts it». The reason it’s called Kanuni I Leke Dukagjinit is because Dukagjini was the first to gather these centuries of oral laws into a written code of structure. This part of albanian culture may seem brutal, but back in the days, it was relevant. Our culture is also very beautiful. Just up until these last decades, life was hard for albanians. We are the true indigenous inhabitants of the Balkan peninsula. All south-slavs, at least those who live close to our borders and the Adriatic sea, share a certain degree of blood with us, because they are either assimilated or they’ve mingled with the slavic invaders who entered The Illyrian peninsula(The word Balkans is turkish). In This beautiful region, lived the children of Pelasgians; namely Illyrians(means free) Thracians and Dacians, people of the same origin and heritage. the remains of these ancient people live today through the albanian people. There is plenty of proof from respected historians who can confirm it.

So very sad for little children an Mothers.

hvala sto kad radite reportaze o balkanu stavite sinkronizaciju da mi mozemo slusati sto kazu njihovim rijecima hvalaa

Saw the thumbnail and all I can think about is "Emporers new clothes" by P!ATD!

....and it only ends, when EVERYONE is dead, brilliant system guys...so if everyones dead, how do u know who won? Ahhh, we humans are SO smart....S-M-R-T....smart!

Nice documentation but slow the subtitles a bit down. It was hard to follow.

As for the Albanian version and application of the Canon/Blood-Feud, the children and women must be spared from the conflicts. This is how it was back when Balkan men were men. It is not possible/understandable that children face this type of conflict when they are children. There's a saying in Albanian that goes "much come to this world as male, but few die as men". This is an exemple.

We can all talk but only ones who lost their children due to murdering can understand this subject

I'm from north Albania and this law still continues but if you get caught you will get send to jail

Thank for the insightful reporting. However, I think a better job can be done of the subtitles. Way too many mistakes.

this reminds me of 'taken' movie.. that one named 'marco of tropoja'

this is bad info ... this is in montenegro and albania not in serbia vice please chech your infos before making such video

The part at 33:00 min aprox. was truly one of the most heartbreaking things i've seen in a very very long time. When a girl that young cites a verse like that, and tells she don't leave the home cause her brothers can't. Aswell as 34:15 - When questioned what movie the kid would make? The answer itself is terrifying and goes to show what this does to generation through generation. There is alot of fucked up shit out there, alot. And im not going to judge an entire country based of this, nor do i do it because we all have dark corners in our roots. Might not be as apparent as this, but it's there. Let's just hope that this tradition, aswell as all other ones alike or just as fucked up, perishes with time.

2021,still waiting to hear something nice from balkan.

Vice taking things way out of proportions, as usual.

Every corner of the world has problems. But I know I can't be the only one that wants to scream when adults involve kids in adult problems. Not just in Albania but everywhere. Let kids be kids. They have such a short time in the span of a lifetime to be one.

its funny i speak russian and i dont need subtitles cuz i can understand almost everything they are saying

very intressting

wish them all peace

this law is only in kosovo, albania and montenegro not in entire balkans, dumb title

Holy shit that first guy is such a badass

If a person kills another person from another family, then this a process that will or can never be stopped.

samo se cistite sto vise

Now this is my type of Justice an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth, blood runs thicker than water.