This film was much needed on the quarter-century anniversary of the massacre of Srebrenica, one of the most bloody pages of the most recent european wars, the Jugloslavian conflicts, that happened so recently yet are unspoken of.
Zbanic's film is better described as a family drama that happens to be set during Srebrenica than a film about Srebrenica alone. Or better, it is a film that is able to portray the events of Srebrenica yet focus on the personal story of a handful of characters.
The main character, Aida, is an interpreter for the UN military unit that was sent to Srebrenica in 1995, and is determined to save his all-male family from the butchery of their invaders. Her character is the center of virtually everything that is depicted, and allows to give a wide glimpse at the most recent genocide occured on european soil. While several of the main characters are invented, they interact at various points with really existing people: Mladic, the "butcher of Bosnia", colonel Karremans of the UN military division, among others.
One element which I found relevant was how the film underlined the fact that the post-jugoslavian conflicts were a conflict between neighbours, between people who belonged to the same communities, and the epilogue depicts this in a most shocking way.
Zbanic's film is better described as a family drama that happens to be set during Srebrenica than a film about Srebrenica alone. Or better, it is a film that is able to portray the events of Srebrenica yet focus on the personal story of a handful of characters.
The main character, Aida, is an interpreter for the UN military unit that was sent to Srebrenica in 1995, and is determined to save his all-male family from the butchery of their invaders. Her character is the center of virtually everything that is depicted, and allows to give a wide glimpse at the most recent genocide occured on european soil. While several of the main characters are invented, they interact at various points with really existing people: Mladic, the "butcher of Bosnia", colonel Karremans of the UN military division, among others.
One element which I found relevant was how the film underlined the fact that the post-jugoslavian conflicts were a conflict between neighbours, between people who belonged to the same communities, and the epilogue depicts this in a most shocking way.