Films in Sarajevo: Where is Redemption?

Fatalism, Pride, Pain, Mockery, Shame, Apathy… These are the recurring themes in the films that I have been attending at this year’s film festival here in Sarajevo. After three days of faithfully showing up to my ticketed seat, the heavier I feel inside when I walk out, as if my spirit is hiding from the uncertainty and oppression I am taking in with my eye and ear gates.

 

First of all, I love where I live, and I truly love these people. I understand them, even though they would say that I have no idea, that I’m just another American trying to come here and help. But behind that, I hear the voice of rejection, abandonment and fear. So attending this film festival has reconfirmed to me that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.

 

Nothing depicts the real situation in a culture other than the arts. If you study history through art you will learn so much more than any textbook. For this reason I took the opportunity to attend as many Balkan movies as I could with the three days I had to attend this festival. And as I mentioned, the themes are all the same.

 

My question is: where is redemption?  Is it even a possibility?

For the most part, all the films would just quietly fade out, leaving us with the hard reality that life here simply hurts. And if you want to survive, begin to own the hurt and make it your identity because it has always been this way and will always be this way.

 

I had a conversation with someone about this fatalism outside after a documentary.  She commented (smiling between puffs of her cigarette) that these films just show us that we’re not perfect.  I agree so far, but is there something more we can grasp? Or is this life about accepting the way things are—excusing the chaos by saying that it is just our way of life, that there is nothing we can do about it—then puffing the next cigarette and moving on?

 

Even the most brutal and voracious of societies (as this place is being portrayed through film) are still not too far beyond the reach of God’s amazing love.  It is never too late for redemption. Our heart is designed to know and embrace that.

 

Maybe that is why love songs (especially ones that are tragic) are the songs that we connect to on the deepest level. It’s amazing to me how much one simple love song can silence a room, bringing the entire audience into one collective breath.  What is this medicine called music?

 

During the festival I watched the documentary about sevdah (love songs).  Not a person moved a bone while we listened and watched the screen. It was an amazing experience and at the end of this song, there was a hint of eternal redemption:  a tree and a rose growing side by side where the two lovers are buried.  I walked out of the theater filled up.

Comments

[Annette Nikolich]

Thank you for your report on the Sarajevo film festival. Hopelessness and apathy are not specific to the former Yugoslavia... it is just the condition of the heart without Jesus. He alone can bring true joy and hope. Blessings on your ministry!

[Gerard Black]

The arts do reflect where we are as a culture. What a blessing that we can participate!