As someone else here already said, this is not entertainment cinema. In my opinion it's not even a film in the usual way.
Samira a young, well protected and maybe a little naive teacher from Sarajevo leaves her loving family to work in rural village. Shortly after she arrived, war starts and soldiers take her and all the other women captive. As in many wars, the younger women are picked out, locked up separately and are raped, tortured and humiliated. Men are killed, children die, Samira is in constant shock and unable to react.
The director is able to give you the feeling of being part of the movie, of nearly being part of the group of women with their fears. There is not much music and also spoken dialog is rare. This movie lives completely from the realistic atmosphere, so much that I had times I was totally frozen and could't breathe. Some scenes are nearly unbearable and I started crying without even noticing it.
Yes, we have all heard that it is common in war situations that women are raped from enemy soldiers but this movie showed me that I never gave a real thought about what that actually means. This movie transports the feeling to you one-to-one and it's really hard to stomach.
Natasha Petrovic transports her emotions directly to you, without words, mostly with her eyes and her face is really haunting you. If you dare to open yourself emotionally to her character you can feel the fear yourself.
Also the end, when Samira comes to Sweden as a refugee, pregnant from rape, all her family dead, completely alone into a country which language she can't speak made me think a lot about how many women must have felt and feel in such situations. I how and if i would cope.
This movie is important, because it shows how quickly things can change in war situations, how happy those of us must be who live in peaceful countries and how extremely important it is to keep the peace by all possible means. Absolute recommendation - if you dare!
Samira a young, well protected and maybe a little naive teacher from Sarajevo leaves her loving family to work in rural village. Shortly after she arrived, war starts and soldiers take her and all the other women captive. As in many wars, the younger women are picked out, locked up separately and are raped, tortured and humiliated. Men are killed, children die, Samira is in constant shock and unable to react.
The director is able to give you the feeling of being part of the movie, of nearly being part of the group of women with their fears. There is not much music and also spoken dialog is rare. This movie lives completely from the realistic atmosphere, so much that I had times I was totally frozen and could't breathe. Some scenes are nearly unbearable and I started crying without even noticing it.
Yes, we have all heard that it is common in war situations that women are raped from enemy soldiers but this movie showed me that I never gave a real thought about what that actually means. This movie transports the feeling to you one-to-one and it's really hard to stomach.
Natasha Petrovic transports her emotions directly to you, without words, mostly with her eyes and her face is really haunting you. If you dare to open yourself emotionally to her character you can feel the fear yourself.
Also the end, when Samira comes to Sweden as a refugee, pregnant from rape, all her family dead, completely alone into a country which language she can't speak made me think a lot about how many women must have felt and feel in such situations. I how and if i would cope.
This movie is important, because it shows how quickly things can change in war situations, how happy those of us must be who live in peaceful countries and how extremely important it is to keep the peace by all possible means. Absolute recommendation - if you dare!