USPOMENE 677 (677 Memories) 86 min documentary.
Directed and shot by Mirko Pincelli
Produced by Enrico Tessarin and Velma Saric
00:00:14:12 [SUPER] After the disintegration of Titoʼs Yugoslavia, Bosnian
Croats, Bosnian Serbs, and Bosniak (Muslims) fought in a brutal war from ʼ92-
ʻ95
00:00:25:09 [SUPER] After the war Bosnia was divided into two regions:
Republika Srpska – Bosnian Serb majority. The Federation of Bosnia
Herzegovina – Bosnian Croat and Bosniak (Muslim) majority
00:00:42:10 [SUPER] Approximately 250.000 people died or are still missing
and 1.000.000 were forced to flee as a result of the war
00:00:59:15 [SUPER] The Bosnian Serb army occupied 70% of the country,
killing and persecuting Bosniaks (Muslims) and Bosnian Croats to create a
Serb Republic
00:01:33:11 [SUPER] In January ʼ93 after peace effort failed, war broke out
between Bosniaks (Muslims) and Bosnian Croats
00:01:39:23 [SUPER] 677 concentration camps, rape camps and prisons
were established. Bosnian Croats, Bosniaks (Muslim) and Bosnian Serbs
were all victims and all perpetrators
00:02:31:14 [SUPER – TITLE] Uspomene 677 (677 Memories)
00:02:44:21 [SUPER] Sarajevo, Central Bosnia Pre-war population: 435.000
Post-war population ± 300.000
00:02:51:18 [SUPER] I: The Present
00:03:16:15 [KEMAL] When the war started, it ruined many plans and people
who lost their loved ones, also lost the will to live. I remember pain. I
remember the 13 operations I survived and the days I spent in hospital. I had
a very negative opinion of the world and I was afraid to show people who I
actually was. I was afraid because I had a disability and I was afraid that
because of it, I wouldnʼt be like other kids. Nowadays, I try to hang out with
everybody, and I always try to give my best, for example in sports. I want my
friend to think positively of me. That is what I am trying to be.
00:04:22:21 [SUPER] Kemal 19 Bosniak (Muslim) Athlete. Youngest wounded
survivor of the siege of Sarajevo
00:04:32:00 [BAKIR] Iʼve known Kemal since we were little kids. We are best
friends. He is like a brother to me. Even though Kemal lost his leg when he
was just a baby he is no different to any other kid. This is my opinion, he is
basically the same as I am. He plays football and we go out together.
00:04:56:21 [KEMAL] I got over my fears. Nowadays I donʼt have a problem
with going to the pool and taking off my artificial leg or approaching girls,
talking about the war with them, letting them know how I lost my leg and my
Mum, that's no problem.
00:05:34:00 [TATOOIST] there will be a mark left in the middle.
[KEMAL] Ok no problem, just shorten these ones up here.
00:05:44:14 [KEMAL] In the future I will never pay attention to what people
think of me. I donʼt want anybody to pity me. That is the most important thing.
I do not want to be approached by people telling me: “Oh, I remember you, do
you need some help?” I do not want to be asked by girls I hang out with if I
need help getting up. I am strong enough and I believe in myself enough to
know that everything will be ok in the future. I will continue living my wonderful
life. Yes, oh Yes!
00:06:59:05 [SUPER] Vares, Central Bosnia. Pre-war population: 20.000
Post-war population: 13.000
00:07:11:15 [LUKA] Good day how are you?
[PASSERBY] going for a walk, eh?
[LUKA] Yes, just a short one.
00:07:21:11 [LUKA] Over there. Did you know we had a basketball hoop
here? Right there. No it was over there.. Have you seen the Blondie of yours?
00:07:34:07 [MARKO] which Blondie?
00:07:36:10 [LUKA] Which Blondie, huh?
[MARKO] Yeah, which one?
[LUKA] the Blondie!
[MARKO] the Blondie?!
[LUKA] Did she call you?
[MARKO] No she didnʼt
[LUKA] Liar.
00:07:51:21 [LUKA] My name is Luke Idzakovic. I was born in 1995 in Nova
Bila. On May 11th I will be 16. I go to school in Vareš, studying to work in
transportation. I am part of this mixed group of people that live here in Vares.
We are all equal. We are all the same.
00:08:20:09 [LUKA] I donʼt know anything about these two areas. Father told
me it was covered with mines. I donʼt know if it still is. You saw that graffiti at
school ... ... "Bosnia is a ticking time bomb."
00:08:45:10 [SUPER] Luka 16, Bosnian Croat. Student, Son of refugees
returned to Vares.
00:08:47:07 [LUKA] Nevertheless, itʼs beautiful. Letʼs go. Modern day
countries have many ethnicities … but we only have three ethnicities and
three religions. We are all made of flesh and blood. We are all Humans. We
could have unity and brotherhood, just like during Titoʼs regime. Everything
would be great. Unlike todayʼs politicians, who are the main reason why
people hate each other.
00:09:33:15 [LUKA] I live here with my father. My mother passed away three
years ago. She had a heart attack. So we moved away to Rijeka. I have a 32-
years old brother who lives there. My father and I live here. The situation is
tough but we get by somehow. Dad takes care of me. He is basically both
mother and father to me. He provides everything now mum is not with us
anymore. Itʼs a bit hard, but we make it work.
00:10:29:24 [LUKA] Ruins from the war. A lot of rooms. There are some old
posters here… because young people usually come to this kind of house to
drink.
00:10:49:02 [LUKAʼS FATHER] Of course the war influenced us. It affected
the whole family. The war and the camps influenced everyone, and everyone
suffered. I was forced to leave Vares. I got imprisoned. I was in the camp for
30 days. My whole family were refugees. The camp I was held in during the ...
is the same building where my son now goes to school. Nowadays us older
ones ... middle aged men, and especially the youth … should be much
smarter and look only to the future. They should forget about it - or I should
say - forgive. What happened, happened. They should keep moving forward.
00:11:42:24 [LUKA] Luka is a teenager who like fun. He likes to try new
things, to have a good time. And above all … to think about his actions.
00:12:04:18 [SUPER] Brcko, Northern Bosnia. Pre-war population: 80.000
Post-war population: 65.000
00:12:09:03 [TATJANA] The fog fell ... and all around us there were ... pillows
of smoke. You ask me: "Are we alone?" "Is there a God?" Somewhere there is
a town ...that counts its days by rain. Where no one is young … colourless
town.
00:12:58:16 [TATJANA] My parents are divorced and they had a lot of
problems ... while they were still married. My father had some problems with
drugs ... and that was the real reason for their divorce. Now you are going to
see where I sleep most of the time. This is my room. I mostly sleep here on
this bed. This is the only private room I have, and it is a little bit messy. This is
my photo album ... and I will show you pictures of my mother because you will
not have the chance to see her in the movie... As you can see there are a lot
of pictures of me … my mum … and our family in general ... but there are not
photo of my dad. Why? Well, my mum has her personal reasons … or, should
I say, her wishes. The most important man in my life was my grandfather. He
was the only person I could count on unconditionally. His help was always
unconditional.
00:14:48:23 [SUPER] Tatjana 17 Bosnian Serb. Youth worker, daughter of a
former fighter for the Bosnian Serb Army.
00:14:58:19 [SUPER] Banja Luka, Capital – Republika Srpska. May 2011 –
10.000 protest against the arrest of Ratko Mladic.
00:15:14:08 [PASSERBY] Today we had an amazing demonstration| to
respect and honour our hero … the legendary general of the Army of
Republika Srpksa, Ratko Mladic.
00:15:36:15 [TATJANA] Serbs would say that it's disgraceful for me to say
that I don't care about Mladic's arrest. "How can you not care? He's our
general!" Well, he wasn't my general.
00:16:02:16 [BISHOP KOMARICA] Obviously, they learned from their first
teachers, and those are their parents. If they live ... in an atmosphere that
excludes others ... and those who are different, if they are spreading
hopelessness … fear and animosity towards others … then young souls and
hearts will absorb that.
00:16:16:10 [SUPER] Franjo Komarica, Bosnian Croat. Roman Catholic
Bishop of Banja Luka
00:16:48:03 [KEMAL] There is so much hate against him, their General
Mladic. I donʼt see how he can have been that brave … To order his soldier,
who were watching us in Sarajevo from Pale, to kill civilians. Can you imagine
someone ordering the shooting.. of a woman who is carrying a child?
00:17:18:10 [MLADIC AUDIO ARCHIVAL RECORDING] Shoot at slow
intervals till I order you to stop. Target Muslim neighbourhoods – not many
Serbs live there. Shell them till theyʼre on the edge of madness
00:17:37:15 [Kemal] Can you imagine shooting a woman in the back with a
mortar? That is what happened to my mother. It cut most of my leg off.
00:17:49:06 [Pedestrian] In my heart … General Mladic is in my heart.
00:17:57:23 [KEMAL GRANDMOTHER] I cannot understand how anyone can
think that he is a hero when he killed innocent people ...especially women and
children. Here under this cherry tree seven children were killed.
00:18:12:24 [KEMAL] I live with my Grandmother. At the moment we live off
my disability benefit.
00:18:20:22 [KEMAL GRANDMOTHER] We were up here in the
basement and escaped to go down into the shelter. I was at home and she
was going down there with the baby in a pillow. I found her here lying on the
road like this, and the baby was underneath her ... and this part of her back
was totally ripped apart by the mortar. They should be ashamed of what they
did to the innocent woman and children who were wounded and killed. Kemal
stayed in the hospital, his leg was hanging on by a small piece of skin –
nothing else. When we took him out of the pillow it was full of blood.
00:19:07:04 [KEMAL] I never felt her hug, I do not have memories, nothing.
You can imagine how it has been for me, for the last 19 years, living and
growing up without her.
00:19:24:06 [CAMERAMAN] Can we talk to you guys? What's you opinion on
Mladic?
00:19:29:13 [PASSERBY] We'd rather not talk about that.
00:19:33:05 [TRANSLATOR] They don't want to comment on anything
connected to that.
00:19:37:08 [CAMERAMAN] But it's very important, because everyone is
hearing only one thing ... if you don't say your opinion, no one will know.
00:19:43:02 [PASSERBY] No, we don't want to say our opinion about that -
OK ?
00:19:49:06 [CAMERAMAN] But it is the young who will control the future.
00:19:54:03 [PASSERBY] But we get older, you know.
00:19:57:15 [CAMERAMAN] Exactly, so you need to say what your opinion is.
00:20:00:08 [PASSERBY] Not about that.
00:20:02:10 [CAMERAMAN] What about the situation for you, a young person
in this country now?
00:20:06:18 [PASSERBY] I love this country, you know ... but that about
Ratko - it's a bad thing for me. OK. But don't lie about us.
00:20:24:21 [CAMERAMAN] What's your name?
00:20:26:09 [PASSERBY] My name is Stefan ... do you want me to speak in
English or in Serbian? I think that Mladic is really our hero. Without him the
Republika Srpska wouldn't exist at all. We Serbs in Bosnia have our country
thanks to General Ratko Mladic. And there are no Muslim or Croatian
Generals that were arrested. They were arrested and released after one year.
I would like Republika Srpska and Serbia to become united. Not with the
Muslims. My grandfather hates them, my father ... and they are hating us.
There will be some bad things, and the war will start again. It's better to live
like this ... we have ours, they have theirs. That is what I think.
00:21:15:09 [KEMAL] I have pictures from her wedding with my father … but
the one in which we are together is much more important for me. This one
shows the very beginning of my life. That, and the tattoo which I see every
morning when I wake up … are the only two things that remind me of her.
When I got that tattoo after 19 years, I felt as if she would always be with me. I
feel like she is always there, telling me what to do and what not to do. When I
am feeling down, I feel she is there, pushing me forward. I always have
support, as if she is looking down on me from above. For the last few years I
have been trying to make her proud of me. I can never know what her opinion
of me is … but I think she is pleased with what Iʼve accomplished so far, and
how much I am trying.
00:22:48:05 [LUKA] My mum worked in retail, so she got a job doing 16-17
hour shifts at 'Merkator.' One day Dad and I were playing basketball. I actually
really love basketball. It was a Sunday ... we used to make fun of Mum by
calling her ʻthe catʼ. So he told me, “letʼs go home, the cat will be back soon to
make lunch”. So, me and Dad got home, but she was not there. A few
moments later the phone rang. It was the manager of Merkator. He said he
had some bad news for us. So Dad asked what the problem was. He told him
Mum was in a coma. We thought it was not that serious,| and that we would
probably laugh about it very soon. But, when we got to the hospital on Susak
in Rijeka where she was ... the doctor met us ... and for ten minutes he was
just shaking his head. In the end he said she might die. She had a really
strong heart attack. Her brain was deprived of oxygen for an hour and a half.
We were devastated. She was in come for seven days. We went to visit her
every day. Some optimistic doctor told us ... that she was better, that she had
started to breathe on her own. But when we came to visit her on the seventh
day ... someone was taken out dead from her room. I still do not know if that
was her. She died.
00:24:49:17 [LUKA] I remember my father and mother coming here. They
would get some wood for the winter. It was a nice thing for them to do.
00:25:10:18 [LUKAʼS DAD] It is hard for me. I can see it in him. He says to
me: "Dad. I cannot cry any more." He thinks I will be angry or something ... but
I always tell him that I know ... that it's harder for him than for me. I go to visit
my wife's grave in Stogić every day. I don't tell him what to do anymore. He
goes there when he feels the need. There's no point in me forcing him to do
anything. He knows what to do now. But I think that it's really hard for him.
00:25:38:13 [LUKA] Every Sunday I go to mass, I pray to God ... and if he
wasn't there for me ... I don't know if I could have managed to overcome this
situation ... especially not having a mother. I have friends here that help me
out. We hang out together every day. We go out. They were always there to
help me, to tell me to stay tough. I am aware that life is like that. You cannot
turn back time.
00:26:27:18 [TATJANA] My father spent a few years in prison. I did not get to
see my father at all between 1999 and 2007. But the thing that really got me
after my parents divorced was when I … realised that I will never have a
family like everyone else does. I was very young then, and an ideal family for
me was a father, a mother, and a child. They live in a nice house and have a
harmonious life. When I realised that nothing is perfect and that I will never
have that, that really hurt me … but it also taught me.
00:27:17:12 [TATJANAʼS FATHER] I do not think that Tatjana has had a good
quality of life. Even though her mother and I separated, it did not affect
Tatjana in a bad way. She had millions of reasons to become ... another kid
from the streets, but instead she found a strength in it ... and she made it. I
only wish that everyone had a kid like this.
00:28:10:15 [TATJANA] People are always asking why that happened. They
wonder what triggered my fatherʼs addiction ... and everything else he did in
relation to narcotics. I always bring up the fact that my father was a soldier …
who fought during the war. I always connect those two things. My father does
not talk a lot … about the war; what he saw, lived through and everything
else. I realise how hard it is for him to talk. He cannot make a sentence which
does not sound like: "You do not know how it feels to see all that." "You do not
know how hard it is to see all that blood and all those men."
One thing led to another, and the problems in our family started showing up. I
connect those problems with the war … and the fact that my father had to join
the army. I know my father well enough to know that … if he had the chance
to choose … he would never willingly do things like that. But sometimes the
time comes when a man has to make a decision ... and questions like 'kill or
be killed' come to the fore. When you realise you have to do something like
that ... and when the war ends, you stop, roll the movie backwards ... and
think about everything you did, had to do, and saw done. Then you reach a
point when you need something to help you clear your thoughts … to set you
free and make it easier. It may sound strange, but I think all that stuff helped
my father. He cannot talk about things that happened to him in the past. I am
his daughter, and that is something that hurts me … because many people in
this town know more about my father than I do. It is not nice to listen to
stories.
00:30:46:07 [TATJANAʼS FATHER] I don't want to talk about it, but I was also
drawn into the war. I was very young, only 18. All I can hope now is that ... the
bitter souls of my generation will simply disappear. The youth cannot learn
anything from us, except for negative things.
00:31:14:00 [TATJANA] I feel very sorry for everything that happened to him
… and during my whole life I have been trying to help him with that issue…
and during my whole life I have been trying help him with that issue. I want to
dedicate my life to help people with drug problems ... and any other kind of
problems… I wish to help people fight addictions … especially drugs, for this
reason. I tie the things that happened in my family, which destroyed my family
… directly to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina ... some fifteen years ago. I
believe that if this war … and all these horrible things had not happened ... I
would not be the way I am now. I would have a totally different world
surrounding me ... and I would not been shooting this movie.
00:32:48:07 [SUPER] Pale Central Bosnia. Headquarters of Serb forces
during the siege of Sarajevo.
00:32:50:21 [TATJANA] I was born on the 1st January 1994 … and of course,
I don't remember anything before that. I do not remember anything until the
age of five or six ... and I do not have an opinion of my own. War is war. Itʼs a
horrible thing, always. I do not remember the war in any form. I only
remember what I sow on TV afterwards. That is all. The older ones … are
really affected by memories of it. And most of the younger ones, not all of
them, but most ... are effected by their elders, which is an horrible thing.
00:33:41:09 [PASSERBY] I would like to say to Muslims and Ustashas ... I will
screw both their mothers and fathers!
00:33:50:11 [KEMAL] I am sure that young people living in Pale donʼt care
about our stories ...stories of growing up without a mother, the heart of the
family. To invade a village, take teenagers, mothers ... kill them, slaughter and
rape them.
That is being really weak. Only cowards do things like that.
00:34:26:11 [TATJANA] I think that 90% of young people here dream of going
somewhere else. But I want to change something here. I want to help people
to overcame the problems we have. If I manage to help only one person … I
think that is a success.
00:35:20:08 [VILLAGE CROWD] In the city and in the village … on the hills
and on the plains, all Serbs are Ratkoʼs soldiers. Truth and justice are on our
side, because Ratkoʼs army defends Serbian Bosnia. Truth and justice are on
our side because General Ratko defends Serbian Bosnia.
00:35:51:15 [KEMAL] I do not see positive things in Bosnia Herzegovina. I
think that God has stopped watching over us since the war. We became such
a tormented nation, that I feel that even he gave up on us. The whole Bosnia
should get up on her feet. Not only people from Sarajevo, but people from all
around. Bosnia should gather in one place … and see if things can be done
the easy way, or the hard way. After that I might see a future for me myself
here.
00:36:40:02 [VILLAGE CROWD] Student, peasants, school kids and workers,
all the Serbs are Ratkoʼs soldiers. Student, peasants, school kids and
workers, all the Serbs are Ratkoʼs soldiers.
00:36:56:05 [TATJANA] If young people in Bosnia would wake up, this
country would have perspective. the youth decides to do that, we will not have
a state ... because the future of every country consists of its youth ... and our
youth is sleeping.
00:37:16:10 [VILLAGE CROWD] All the Serbs are Ratkoʼs soldiers. Truth and
justice are on our side because Ratkoʼs army defends Serbian Bosnia …
00:37:31:08 [LUKA] I think that young people could change this country if they
had the chance, I think we would be living in the land of milk and honey … if
only young people would get their chance. Young people are neglected by the
older ones. It would be nice if the youth would get their chance in some
situations.
00:37:58:12 [SUPER] II: The Past
00:38:53:23 [ZELJKO] Here we are. Please sit down.
00:38:59:20 [PERO] Oh, we didnʼt expect you.
00:39:02:06 [ZELJKO] I am a mannequin. A model. I tell you all the time ... but
you never believe me.
00:39:10:07 [PERO] Do you know what would be best?
00:39:12:15 [ZELJKO] What?
00:39:14:18 [PERO] If we could find him a girl so he could get married. Oh,
that would be a good project. But you don't have enough money.
00:39:22:11 I have two goats. I'll have a coffee, a glass of water and a rakija.
00:39:28:20 [BARTENDER] Water and a rakija, no coffee.
00:39:31:11 [ZELJKO] But I want coffee.
00:39:33:16 [PERO] Aren't you going to offer us a drink? We are Zeljko's
friends!
00:39:36:10 [ZELJKO] Don't interfere with our project please. We don't want
any primitives in the film. My next interview will be in New York. Maybe Rome,
wherever you invite me. Pakistan is a possibility. I'm sick of this damn village.
Primitives! This is the beginning of a film career ... I'll be a movie star ... and
then I'll think of you. I'll wrap Angelina Jolie around my little finger ...
00:40:06:16 [PERO] Yeah – shut up!
00:40:22:14 [SUPER] ZELJKO 50, Bosnian Croat. Ex-soldier with the HVO
(Bosnian Croat army). Captured by the ARBiH (Muslim army) and detained in
the Bugojno football stadium.
00:40:34:24 [ZELJKO] I was a soldier until the end of the war … for almost
four years. The first thing that war brings is disappointment in people. The
people in whom you have the most confidence betray you. Bad guys from the
time before the war were good guys during the war. Everything was turned
upside down. I was captured in the centre of the town … and I was in the war
camp for eight months … in the football stadium. We were in the city
surrounded, and a lot of soldiers were captured and held in the war camp. It
was a living hell there, it was horrible. I heard screams, bones breaking.
00:41:41:17 [SADZIDA] In 2006 I was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD). The therapy does me good. I know that in modern day
Europe ... like most of the rest of the world ... everyone has a psychotherapist
and a neuropsychiatrist. But here, when you tell someone that you ... are
seeing a psychiatrist or neuropsychiatrist ... they will say behind your back
that you're crazy. Even though they might be crazier than I am. We usually
call it a dirty war. People who were not worthy of mentioning before the war …
people who couldn't have approached you ... not even to say 'hello' ... now
had the chance to approach you,| tell you that they like you ... that they liked
you before, and that now they ... could do whatever they want with you. Even
that most dirty thing ... to rape you.
00:43:16:21 [SUPER] SADZIDA 43 Bosniak (Muslim) Ex-civil servant. Kept in
private rape houses by Bosnian Serb army near the camp of Susica in
Vlasenica.
00:43:25:07 [SADZIDA] The war started in April 1992. At first I could not
understand what it was all about. First there was a referendum ... and one of
my colleagues said that we could not work together anymore. Vlasenica had a
Muslim majority ... and Serbs were a minority. A colleague told me: “We will
not work together anymore … and this area of Vlasenica will be left to you
Muslims."
00:44:25:04 [NEDELJKO] I would like to go to Silos with you … and you
should film me there … so that I am telling you the truth in that very place.
Maybe one of them will recognise me. Also I would like to know why I was
held there. Did I go against the authorities? Did I shoot at someone? Did I kill
someone? I am certain that I was held in that camp ... for no obvious reason
... for 1312 days.
00:45:31:20 [SUPER] NEDELJKO 73, Bosnian Serb. Held in Silos by ARBiH
(Muslim army). It remains controversial whether Silos was a war prison or a
detention camp.
00:45:39:08 [NEDELJKO] I came home, it was a very hot day. I had a bath.
When I came to the front room, I saw a jeep stopping in front of my house.
They told me to come over, so I did … and they said that I had to go with
them to Pazaric to give a statement. I had noticed that everyone who was
taken away before had not come back ... so I put on some clothes and a
jacket ... which I still have even today. That jacket survived with me. So, I got
dressed, and they took me to the elementary school. There were 98 of us held
in the school. There was no food. We got three bites of food a day. That was
just enough to irritate you. People were dying of hunger. A few times I felt
unconscious. When I was held in Krupa ... a doctor came and prescribed me
... one piece of bread every day for a week. When a week passed I was
feeling better. Then the same thing happened again. No food.
00:48:00:05 [ZELJKO] Here, turn right here. They never allow filming of the
stadium … because the disappearance of 20|Croat Army (HVO) soldiers is
still a taboo ... it's not something people like to talk about here in Bosnia. Just
here. This is the stadium that was turned into a prison. We were under the
stands ... 294 of us, maybe more. There was only one bathroom ... with no
water, no food, cold. The first punch was normally to the head. It was dark.
Tears would start to pour from my eyes. I heard voices, I can remember
voices more clearly then faces. It was hard to watch people becoming
monsters. I was so weak, I had broken ribs and pneumonia… Letʼs go, get me
out of here. I donʼt want to be here any longer.
00:49:40:00 [ZELJKO] Fear. Stress. Insomnia for years. Aggressiveness. I
have a lot of health issues. My kidneys do not function properly because of
the beatings. I need sedatives to allow me to sleep. I can be dangerous. Iʼm
tired, old and sick. Iʼm not tired, nor old, nor sick … Iʼm exaggerating. Usually I
get along with people who also have PTSD. A lot of us didnʼt get married. That
was the time to start a family but war came. Working in the orchard is relaxing
for me. Itʼs the best remedy for people with PTSD, work.
00:51:00:16 [PERO] This goat had four little ones, but one died.
00:51:22:06 [SADZIDA] This guy named Makso told me that I was on the list
to be killed … and the only way to survive was to marry him. He said that he
liked me before. I thought to myself, "OK, it's the only possible way." He said
that he had occupied a house for us. It was a Muslim house. I knew the
owners. No one would get into the house while he was on the frontline in
Cerska, Rogasija. So I accepted. He said that when he got back from the front
line, he would come home. And when he got the chance, he did come. He
was there for 20 days, and during all those 20 days, he would bring them
home … usually 20 or 30 of them … and they would usually come during the
night. Whoever wanted to rape me would take me upstairs ... and he didn't
protect me, yet we were supposed to be married. In the room where we slept
during the night … there was a tripod with an M84 machine gun. There was
ammunition all over the place … and the bullets were as big as hair curlers!
The gun pointed through a window that looked out towards the woods near
Sušica ... because people who had the guts and knew the way … could try to
run away through the woods. I felt disgusted with myself. If I had known how
to use that gun on myself, I would have done it. I said to myself many times
"tomorrow might be a better day."
00:54:32:10 [NEDELJKO] I would like to ask you to film this as quickly as
possible. I don't want anyone to approach me, or to ask me questions. These
were all Serbian houses. Unfortunately nowadays none of the people ... who
used to live in the village are still here. We are split apart. I thought that war
would not happen. I had a lot of Muslim friends, good friends. We respected
each other ... and then war came like a thunder bolt from a clear sky. It's hard
for me to talk about this ... in front of the camera. This is my house. My
ancestors lived here ... and I thought that I'd end my days here too ... and that
my children would live here. After the ordeal of being in the camp ... no matter
how hard it was to leave ... I couldn't bring myself to stay in this place. I was
really shocked by the actions of the people around me ... so I could never
come back to live here.
00:56:33:21 [SADZIDA] I told him I had missed my period and I must be
pregnant. When I told him he was pretty quiet. He took me to Zvornik. I told
the doctor that I hadn't had my period for six weeks ... and that had never
happened before. I stayed with his sister … and both of them watched every
step I made. The doctor confirmed that I was six weeks pregnant. At the age
of 27 I knew exactly what was happening, that something was growing inside
me ... even though I was not happy about whose child it was. Some said it
was a child of love ... but I cannot call him that. The only child I could call that,
would be ... one conceived with someone I really loved. Makso said the kid
had my blood ... and there was no way that some Balijak kid was going to be
born. He said that they were killing Muslims … and that there was no way that
another one was going to be born.
00:58:18:11 [SADZIDA] Makso told him that my name was Sladjana
Kovacevic ... and he took me to a church near Sekovici to baptise me. The
baptism was just a formality, and he said that ... when Muslims heard about it
they would crucify me like Jesus Christ. The doctor said it was time for an
abortion ... it's war time, you can't afford to keep a child. I asked what an
abortion was ... because it was my first pregnancy. I did not know anything
about that. It was horrible. I don't know how hard it is to give birth ... but that
abortion, in those circumstances ... with all that agony and fear, was so hard.
So, it was done, and he took me home. I was in pain, my stomach hurt. I
wished that there was an injection to simply end it all. I stayed at his sisterʼs
place for two or three days. He did not go to the frontline. He got drunk all the
time with his friends, and he beat me up. He would go to my house, and take
whatever he wanted ... with the excuse that we were living together. When my
period was late again, I thought that it was out of fear. The doctor said that I
needed an abortion. Unlike the first time, I gritted my teeth and endured the
pain. If he said that there were no beds free ... which were in a horrible state
anyway ... I would do it standing up. I went back with Makso to his house ...
and I stayed there until ... he beat me up one night, and told me never to
come back.
01:01:34:17 [SUPER] For the sake if freedom. Our land was soaked in blood.
Thus it blossomed as a red rose. Yet we didnʼt falter. We stood up in might
and spite. With strength and heart.
01:02:07:16 [SUPER] III: The Future
01:02:19:09 [ALEN] When I was a kid, other kids always asked me what my
religion was. I would always tell them: “I am Alen”. I did not know what religion
was. I come form a mixed family of Croats, Muslims and Serbs. My father is
Ermin Ćurtić. He has been charged with war crimes committed in the village of
Stupni Dol in Vareš.
01:02:49:15 [SUPER] Bugojno, Zeljko, Pero and Dragan. Bosnian Croats
01:02:57:15 [PERO] 21 ... 21 went missing. They were killed, and that is not a
problem. But tell us where their bones are … so that their parents can bury
them! Nobody was convicted for them. Look at the war camps which were all
over Bosnia ... whether small or large. Wives, families can go to those places
... and can set up a memorial plaque ... "This was a concentration camp."
01:03:30:24 [ZELJKO] They are victims at the expense of Srebrenica. Please
do not interrupt me. Allow me to speak otherwise Iʼll stop filming.
01:03:37:06 [PERO] Donʼt fuck with me! Muslim are victims! We cant deny
that.
01:03:44:11 [ZELJKO] Why are they victims?
01:03:46:07 [PERO] They are victims.
01:03:47:14 [ZELJKO] And whose victim am I?
01:03:49:01 [PERO] Please allow me …
01:03:51:15 [ZELJKO] No! I wonʼt allow it. Fuck off.
01:03:59:05 [ZELJKO] War … It changed my life. I saw people who I used to
trust become troublemakers ... criminals, killers, bandits and things like that.
People on the other side of my gunsight behaved in the same way. That
shook my faith in people. I do not like humans anymore. The more I get to
know humans, the more I like animals. I love to be with animals. I actually
think that humans are the biggest animals. Unfortunately, thatʼs the way it is.
01:04:30:09 [PERO] The Muslims are the victims, that is true. When I was
watching people from Srebrenica in 1995 … even though here we Croats
were persecuted ... by the Muslim Army … not by the Muslims themselves.
When I saw those women and children … I cried.
01:04:49:06 [ZELJKO] For me , it was like Srebrenica.
01:04:51:16 [PERO] I agree, Zeljko. I agree. But ... it cannot be negated.
01:04:59:18 [ZELJKO] The Croats too. They will never speak about that. The
Muslim government will never admit their crimes.
01:05:10:01 [DRAGAN] Letʼs turn it the other way around. Why arenʼt Croats
revealing where the Muslim bodies are?
01:05:16:23 [ZELJKO] Which Muslims?
01:05:23:08 [PERO] I understand Zeljko, because I was in a war camp as well
– although only for a month. But I was there … and I understand him. Many
people do not understand him. I didnʼt know if I was going to survive. There
wasnʼt any guarantee of survival
01:05:49:21 [ZELJKO] A tragedy. War is a tragedy. It seems to me … that the
tragedy is bigger after the war than during it. The evil thing is not the war ...
but those things which lead to the war and continue after the war. We are now
living between two wars. I'm not afraid, because all I have to lose is this crazy
head of mine. I'm afraid the evil will be repeated.
01:06:21:05 [ALEN] Sometimes I sleep easily, and sometimes it is hard ...
especially when my father shows up on TV. Some kid comes up to me and
tells me he saw ... my father on TV and he was charged with those crimes.
The village was completely burned and around 40 people were killed. I looked
it up on the internet, and kids, parents, and their cousins were killed. For a
long time I was really afraid, thinking that someone might say ... "your father
killed my child, why should I not kill you?" But I'm not the guilty one.
01:07:16:16 [SADZIDA] No matter what has happened ... how many family
members I've lost ... losing my two brothers … and all that happened to me ...
like the fact that I didn't have my father when I needed him the most ... and I
still do not categorise people … by their nationality. Whether they are Serbs or
Muslims. Instead I choose to judge them … by the beauty they have on the
inside, not on the outside. Outer beauty fades and is gone. It is a relative
thing.
01:08:00:04 [NEDELJKO] If someone has tortured ... Serb, Croat or Muslim ...
they deserve to be convicted. Nobody should be protected. Regardless of who
they are.
01:08:17:14 [TATJANA] My family taught me to love and respect my religion,
to pray to whatever I believe in ... and to be aware that there are people who
do not think the same way as you do ... and belong to different groups ... and
to simply get used to it. We are all different, and we always will be. No two
people on earth are the same. Thatʼs simply it. Religion and nationality have
got nothing in common.
01:08:58:13 [NEDELJKO] I never allowed my kids to hate someone because
he is a Muslim or a Croat. They should look at everyone equally. And that is
what we must do nowadays. Despite everything our parents told us, what
happened affected us negatively. Our kids should be smarter than us, and
they should look equally at everyone.
01:09:21:24 [ZELJKO] We will never live as we once lived. It is an impossible
mission
01:09:38:04 [SUPER] Vlasenica, Srebrenica. Republika Srpska. 600 Muslims
buried in 2011.
01:10:34:04 [PASSERBY] Today I will be burying a large part of my family.
Last year I buried …
Last year I buried my grandfather and my two uncles. I cannot describe the
feeling.
I did not have the chance to honour the memory of any one of them.
01:11:32:20 [SUPER] Bratunac, Repuika Srpska. Serbian memorial ceremony
for soldiers and victims of war.
01:12:47:14 [ALEN] I realised what the purpose of my life is. I am trying to end
up as an educated person ... with a job, a wife and kids. I could say: "This is
mine." I hope I will never make the mistakes my father did. I would never allow
that. I hope that you will learn something from my story.
01:13:18:21 [SUPER] Sarajevo, PCRC Youth Conference. July 2011.
01:13:16:10 [LUKA] First of all, good day. My name is Luka Idžaković ... Oh,
excuse me ... I am from Vareš. Vareš is 50km from the capital. People used to
work there in the mines, but nowadays nobody takes care of them. Since they
stopped working, it was all sold as scrap metal. Another sad thing about the
town which I want to mention is … that we have a population of maybe five or
six thousand citizens ... and among the younger generation … there are still
feelings of hatred, even though 20 years have passed since the war. In our
group of 15 friends there are Serbs, Croats and Muslims ... and we all stick
together, all 15 of us, and help each other. The world is on our young
shoulders. So we should stand up and help this country to recover. Thank
you.
01:14:15:09 [TATJANA] That is the only way. We have to look at the past ...
so that we can live in the present, and build the future. Come on people … we
are young … we have a world in front of us, and we should not … allow
ourselves to worry about nationalities and names. We have more important
things to do ... more important problems to solve than that.
01:14:56:00 [KEMAL] I do not know if I can make friends with people from our
two other nations. I was negative in the past … I am positive in the present ...
and, if God helps me ... I will be even more positive in the future.
01:15:40:00 [ALEN] Tatjana and Kemal … they became very dear to me.
Kemal lost his leg, and what is even worse, his mother. But he grew to
become something. He fights for himself. Tatjana is also a very dear person
who lost a lot during the war. She is a person you can talk to about all sorts of
things ... and she will keep things to herself. It's the same with Luka Idžaković
... who has been my friend for four or five years. I really know him deep down,
as he knows me. We know each otherʼs secrets ... we solve each otherʼs
problems.
01:16:40:12 [TATJANA] The only way of getting together ... is when one
young person ... takes it upon themselves ... and realises that it is important
that we get together. And it usually starts with that one person ... the
organisation of youth centres and projects to work on. That is how we can get
rid of prejudice. When I see that our politicians, our presidents … and I don't
even know how many presidents we have right now ... when I see those
people – our country's leaders – cannot agree on something ... I realise that
we, the young people … are getting together just fine. We do not have to
relate to one another using our names. You donʼt need to hear my name and
realise I am Serbian ... nor do I need to hear someone elseʼs name and
realise they are Muslim. Our names are just that - our names, and we are who
we are. We carry that inside us, but we don't need to dwell on it.
01:18:03:03 [CAMERAMAN] Davor.
01:18:04:04 [DAVOR] What?
01:18:06:05 [CAMERAMAN] Where are you going?
01:18:08:04 [DAVOR] To the forest!
01:18:10:08 [CAMERAMAN] Why?
01:18:11:09 [DAVOR] To see the beauty of nature at last ...
01:19:05:15 [LUKA] We got closer these last few days and I hope that it will
stay like that. Because Kemal and I had similar destinies, we both lost a
mother. Why not become friends, and share each other's problems? We all
agree to be one community ... we do not want to be divided.
01:19:48:12 [SASA] I do not know what connects us all. Our group - we
understand each other. We shared our stories with each other, and we can all
understand them.
For example, Croats should not ban their kids from hanging out with Serbs ...
Muslims, and things like that ... so there should be no hatred between the
nationalities.
01:20:19:11 [KEAL] I hope that we will sit down, eat, drink ... talk to each other
... and of course, have a coffee. I am looking forward to gatherings like that.
01:20:33:04 [ALEN] The war has left many marks on my life. My father did
some things during the war ... that also influenced me and my life. And I think
that it would be totally foolish of me ... not to hang out with someone ... who is
a Muslim, Croat, or Serbian.
01:21:00:21 [KEMAL] I hope that in few years from now ... there will be more
and more gatherings. I hope that all the world will be able to see what is going
on in Bosnia ... and what Bosnian teenagers do. I hope that people will be
able to see how we think ... and that we are mature. We are not children.
01:21:32:18 [TATJANA] I think that we should be an example ... to people
worldwide. This country has an incredible strength and a soul of its own ...
and there is something that simply keeps it together.
01:22:12:22 [LUKA] Everything could be fixed. We could be better and
smarter ... and our politics and state should consolidate. And as far as religion
goes ... why not one country with three major religions? It's completely
possible.
01:22:58:11 - 01:25:43:11 [SUPER] Ending credits.

© 2024 Journeyman Pictures
Journeyman Pictures Ltd. 4-6 High Street, Thames Ditton, Surrey, KT7 0RY, United Kingdom
Email: info@journeyman.tv

This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. For more info see our Cookies Policy