Filed under: Reviews | Tags: 32:nd Gothenburg International Film Festival, Aida Begic, bosnia, review, Snijeg
PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY IN AFTERMATHS OF BALKAN WAR
Aida Begic: Snijeg, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2008 with Zana Marjanovic, Jasna Beri
Viewed on DVD with English subtitles, Sep 22, 2009. Running time: 100 MIN.
Debutante Aida Begic opens a tale about Eastern Bosnia in 1997. A sparsely, seemingly deserted village in the aftermaths of the Balkan war. But wait, there are six women, a grandfather (acting imam), a few girls and one boy left alive. Oblivious of the fates of beloved ones, life in the small village continues as per usual. At least until one day when two sharp-minded businessmen arrives on a quest to buy land in the war-torn Bosnia, naturally also in the village of pic’s assembly. Moral dilemmas including family values and the definition of true freedom comes to surface and force the group of women to form divided camps.
Snijeg interposes – by all means – an uncomfortable feeling and pathos for the causalities of war, but also the ones outliving it. Underlying aspects of this drama are not beautiful, but it manages to radiate a poetic feeling of how life can go on when it has to. The women of the film are confronted with change, for better or worse. They have lost a great deal of things, but what they do have left is their freedom and despite their despair what they need to realize is that what they want is all they’ve got. And selling out will neither grant closure or joy.
All my regards to Aida Begic for portraying this tender subject with such care and modesty, yet managing to include some enigmatic and symbolic scenes which begs for discussion. It’s a most successful debut feature that has already earned great reception worldwide – not to say the least by scooping the Critics Week Grand Prize in Cannes.
Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment
Spontaneousfilm's notebook 