Bosnian film looks at the ravages of war through the life of one family
By Nightdreamer
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Grbavica is a neighborhood composed of little houses, "decorated" with holes on their walls from bullets or bombs, in an all-wounded, all-silent and already forgotten post-war Sarajevo, in Bosnia-Herzegovinia.
Grbavica is also the winner of the 2006 Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival, and a praiseworthily baptism of fire for the Bosnian director Jasmila Zbanic, making one wonder how her next movie will be. "The land of my dreams," the subtitle of the film, is the traumatized relationship between a mother, Esma, and her teenager daughter, Sara, which is based on a fundamental lie about Sara’s father. We, as spectators, witness the painful catharsis of these two characters and the installment of truth.
It all begins when Sara's school organizes a trip and decide to give a
free ticket to every student whose father is a shahid -- aka a war
martyr. Little Sara, being raised as a shahid’s daughter and knowing
that her father is a martyr, tries intensively to get a certification
of this from her mother, since they can’t afford the price of the
ticket. On the other hand, Esma struggles daily, working two jobs, day
and night, to make a living. She also attends a support group for
shahid’s widows, in order to take the offered financial aid. Esma gets
upset with any type of violence or sexuality. Soon, we understand that
Esma is keeping a very well-sealed secret -- for both her and her
daughter’s benefit.
Mirjana Karannovic, as Esma, outlines a tough character, a woman who tries to survive and to forget, and who despite all these remains likeable. For all the Emir Kusturica fans (me being among them), Mirjana also played Vera in 1995's Underground. I'll bet that whoever has seen that movie can surely recall the image of pregnant Vera bumping on her way down the stairs in the beginning of the film.
During the war, the neighborhood of Grbavica was used as a concentration camp; here they tortured people. War remnants are still alive in everyone’s soul. The movie depicts the character of two women and their relationship, which is ultimately very figurative, representing both the past and the future of the former Yugoslavia.
In addition to the 2006 Golden "teddy," Zbanic's film also won the Peace Film Award in Berlin. The film avoids mentioning the Serbian troops, instead referring to them as Chetniks (I do wonder if this really worked for the Serbian people).
Despite having an ironic subtitle ("The land of my dreams"), this movie is a dramatic one, informed by the real events of modern history -- a history that most people seem to already have forgotten (confirming that a nation’s memory now lasts only as long as a news channel network wants). It is a story about non-utterly-pure love, since it is possessed by hate.
Grbavica is currently in a limited-engagement run at Film Forum, with daily showtimes at 1, 2:45, 4:30, 6:15, 8, and 10.
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