|
As If I Am Not There
| Released |
4 March 2011 |
| Director |
Juanita Wilson |
Starring
|
Natasha Petrovic, Fedja Stukan, Jelena Jovanova, Sanja Buric, Irina Apelgren |
| Writer(s) |
Juanita Wilson |
Producer(s)
|
James Flynn, Nathalie, Lichtenhaeler, Karen Richards |
| Origin |
Ireland, Macedonia, Sweden |
| Running Time |
109 minutes |
| Genre |
Drama |
| Rating |
16 |
|
|
Lest we forget…
Shot in 2009, this is a joint Irish, Macedonian and Swedish production based on true stories told at the War Crimes tribunal at The Hague. In the brutal wars that tore the old Yugoslavia apart in the early to mid-nineties, tales of “ethnic cleansing” and savage cruelty became almost commonplace. One particularly odious story that caused outrage was how Bosnian Serb forces were setting up ‘Rape Camps’. Out of a sick sense of misguided nationalism many Bosnian Muslim women were systematically raped and abused by Serbian soldiers and militiamen.
The story begins in Sarajevo in the early 1990s when Samira (Natasha Petrovic) leaves her comfortable mid-class existence to take a teaching job in a remote village in the countryside. The atmosphere in the village is tense and the last teacher disappeared in mysterious circumstances. Soon soldiers invade and Samira is taken along with the rest of the villagers, despite her protestations that she’s not from there. The males and females are separated and the men are massacred. The women are loaded up to be taken to a camp.
After a few days at the improvised camp on a farm, the pretty Samira is moved to a separate house along with some of the other younger women. Here she is brutally gang-raped and beaten by soldiers in a truly harrowing scene. Her only way to cope is to imagine herself watching this from afar, hence the film’s title. This treatment becomes routine for Samira and the other prisoners, who include an eleven-year-old girl. Then the camp commander (Fedja Stukan) notices Samira. He dresses her up and treats her to dinner, but although he is a kinder, gentler type of rapist, he’s still a rapist all the same. Being the commander’s personal plaything sees Samira somewhat ostracised by the other prisoners, but she justifies it as simply doing what she needs to in order to survive. Eventually Samira is released and escapes to Sweden but then she is faced with another agonising choice.
Irish director Juanita Wilson removes the political dimension from the story and focuses on the victims, with the soldiers’ identity and political intentions not revealed. This is because these crimes were not exclusively committed by Serbian soldiers. Wilson instead focuses on how Samira copes with the atrocities perpetrated against her. She’s managed to coax a remarkable performance out of Natasha Petrovic, a Macedonian drama student who’s a dead ringer for a young Natassja Kinski. Making her feature film debut, she’s in virtually every scene and she carries the film superbly. Fedja Stukan is also chillingly good as the commander, an all too human monster, but it’s Petrovic’s film.
The film itself is sparse with dialogue and free from the normal hysterics you’d expect. The victims accept their fate with a resigned sadness, Wilson handling things with admirable restraint. It’s tough, tragic viewing no doubt, but ultimately it’s a testament to the victims’ will to survive.
With the subject matter, this film will find it hard to attract a wide audience, but it’s a brave film that takes on this issue and it deserves to be seen if only to remind us all of the horrors that can be committed in the name of blind nationalism.
-
Jim O’Connor |
