This interesting, and obviously very rough, film by Bosnian-American director Harun Mehmedinovic was brought to my attention through facebook.
‘In the Name of the Son’ tells the story of Tarik, a former soldier (in the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and prisoner of war who is resettled in the United States as a refugee and begins a new life, only to have his past literally show up on the doorstep one day. The story is told in flashbacks showing Tarik’s friendship with another Army of BiH soldier, who happens to be a Serb. At some point, the two young men are captured together, and a startling act of violence -startling even for war- ensures that the surviving characters will have to meet again to face the unsettled past.
Here’s a clip.
The last Bosnian war movie I saw was ‘The Living and the Dead,’ a full-length psychological thriller set during the 90’s conflict and WWII. Maybe it was just a little too psychological for me (lots of character hallucinations, rapid flashbacks, and unexplained plot twists), or something was lost in translation, or maybe I just had too much wine that night, but it left me feeling confused and a little dizzy. My local colleagues, however, raved about the film, and spent a good part of the next slow day at the office discussing its themes and social importance. Well, that’s very, very cool, I thought.
Oh, and on a slightly related note, I am very disappointed that I missed this year’s Sarajevo Human Rights Film Festival, which concluded a couple of days ago and was apparently amazing.
Transitionland 