GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Konterr Brilliant and touching

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

angelcasillas-41130 One of the main depictions of this film is the struggle of a young woman to survive encampment during the Bosnian war. The Yugoslav state suffered and became divided as Croats declared independence and the Serbians tried to claim what they thought was theirs. THe result was the encampment of Bosnians including the Main character Samira. Samira is a very interesting character to say the least. Although one might think that Samira is selfish because she cares only about her survival because she sleeps with the Serbian captain running the camp, I believe there is a dual nature in our protagonist. Firstly, I think humans innately want to survive. I think its part of our nature and is why we have lasted thousands of years. Samira engages in survival sex even if it involves sleeping with a Serbian causing so much death and destruction. Even so, I think that the second part of Samira's nature is that she cares for others even if she does not want to. When she got gathered from the village, all she asked was who was to teach the children if she was gone. At the camp, one of the first things she does is help a sick man and give her bread to a hungry child. While engaging in the survival sex, she brings the other women food even if they call her out for holding onto her identity and also for seeing the captain. She takes care of the little girl after she was raped. At the very end of the movie, when she realizes she has a baby, she tries to abandon it. Emphasis on the "tries." She just couldn't. The final scene includes her coming back and breastfeeding the child as she cries. So even when trying to be selfish and abandon the product of a rape, she simply cannot help but to be there for the innocent. That is the resilience of a lot of the women of the concentration camps. Many were raped and tortured. THere is not much to say for Bosniak men in the film since they were basically all killed, but this film portrays the strength of women in troubling times.

lmucha-44574 This film, although often difficult to watch, is an unflinching look at ethnic internment during the Bosnian War. There is little dialogue, and the film's message is conveyed through a variety of techniques, the first of which is lighting. Before the war, Samira (the main character) is framed with natural light, soft tones, and sunlit backgrounds. After her capture and subsequent internment, the lighting becomes stark and harsh. The main actress, Natacha Petrovic, is also able to convey Samira's thoughts and feelings through her carefully calculated facial expressions. The lack of dialogue allows the viewer to interpret much of the story, and also avoids contrived/overstated dialogue. The director is not Bosnia, but she seems to be intuitive and sensitive in presenting the material so that it does not feel exploitative. She also does not explicitly mention which ethnic group in interned and which group is interning (as it were), which is an excellent choice in that it allows for a wider variety of experiences to be represented. Although it is hinted that this specific film focuses on Bosnian Muslims being interned by Serbs, there is some wiggle room for other groups to be included as well.

ntaylor-28563 As If I Am Not There is a film that explores a very harsh reality through one woman's experience in a camp for Bosniak Muslim women. The film greatly succeeds in allowing the audience to better understand and feel the same emotions that these women felt. The director, Juanita Wilson, utilizes her cinematographer and her editor wonderfully as the shots primarily take the place for the almost haunting lack of dialogue. The film features primarily close ups and medium shots of small, tight interiors. When there is an occasional long shot, the background is frequently blurred, especially blurring out the soldiers. This simulates how the protagonist, Samira, felt during her time. The cinematography creates a feeling of anxiety, unawareness, and tension. These women had no concept of the outside world. These camps temporarily became their world. All they knew was what surrounded them. There was no available information about the war, nor how long they would reside there. Any information they could obtain was through rumors that oftentimes proved false. There is a scene in particular that I would like to highlight. In the beginning of the film, there is a long, extended shot of the women reacting to the men being executed in their village. The director deliberately chose to show each and every male walking out of the building, as the women watched through the window. This scene depicting the women's reactions lasted through the entirety of the men being killed. Every bullet was heard, and the scene was not finished until every male had died from each bullet. In any other film, the director or editor would have chosen to cut early as we understand what is happening, and forcing the audience to wait through this entire sequence is unnecessary and repetitive. But Wilson has a message here. That every single bullet took an individual life. We see the wives and mothers react to their husbands and sons being killed, and yes, it is emotional. But knowing that every gunshot heard took a life is greatly impactful. Not showing the execution further allows the audience to be placed within the women's experience. The gunshots heard last for a very long time with great lengths of time between sets of gunshots. These pauses create a slimmer of hope for both the audience and the women that perhaps their loved ones made it out alive by running or resisting. But by the end of the sounds, it is clear that they are all dead. The film features many shots such as this that, although small, create a great impact on placing the audience within the experience itself.

ofratko I kinda knew what to expect. The war in Bosnia was brutal. They didn't care about Geneva Conventions( I don't think they even heard about them) Rape was the instrument of the war by all sides. Thousands of Bosnian women were raped. There are many war movies but I think this movie is unique because it shows rape victims of war. Natasha Petrovic is incredible in this movie. Her eyes revealed everything every feeling. Hope to see her in different movie soon. And having read the book from Slavenka Drakulic I have to say that Juanita did great job. She didn't put blame on any side. You don't see army insignias and don't hears speeches about who started the war. You just see how innocent suffer in the war. This movie is very hard to watch and there are parts were you might even close your eyes. But it also shows strength of human being in midst of madness As a women I had to think what would I do in Samira's place. And probably the answer will be everything necessary in order to survive