sarajevo-2

An intense dramatization of an adopted son with strong principles who explodes more and more drastically while facing the challenges of betrayal, bullying, and his own insecurity. The background is Sarajevo 20 years after the war, where the stresses of a fragile society that has never found any kind of real peace intermingle with the normal tensions of being a modern-day teen faced with typical modern-day problems. The son, Arman, feels everything intensely, violently, and keeps almost blowing it completely as he interacts with his parents, grandparents, teachers, brother, mates, girlfiend, and bullies. But he has a tender side too. The acting is all superb, Sarajevo is almost a character in the film, and I was drawn into the movie, feeling like a family member hoping against hope that he wouldn't finally go too far.

The film opens with an incongruous and comic rodeo in the small Swedish town of Lafors - Swedish rodeo???? (one of Lafors' dying industries is tanning leather). Here we get glimpses of some of the characters whom we will get to know better as the film progresses.

In the hopes of luring a big German supermarket (Superbilly) to Lafors, the town council decides to make a marketing film to showcase some of the charms of this town beset with a couple of dying industries. However, without a budget, one of the council members, Musse (Frederick Dahl), a Tamil immigrant who has assimilated so completely he cannot speak Tamil to his demented mother who has forgotten her Swedish, comes up with the idea of asking the secondary school kids to make videos of their town. The results are 'personal', as their teacher says (and quite funny), and in desperation the council gets funding from a local construction company to hire a professional. But two immigrant girls who have made one of the 'personal' films decide to keep filming. As the professional and the amateurs make their videos, various tensions in the town are slowly unveiled.

"Amateurs' has a double meaning in the film - almost all the actors are actually amateurs as well, including the talented and charismatic girls (Aida played by Zahraa Aldoujaili and Dana played by Yara Aliadotter) and the equally talented Musse (trying to figure out a word to describe him, I kept coming up with 'lovable').

The film is beautifully sequenced. We come to see well-meaning Swedes grappling with situations where some subtle prejudices are uncovered, and the girls uncovering reasons why a big supermarket coming to town is not the balm it seems.

The relationship between the immigrant girls is wonderful, and gorgeously acted and directed. Gabriela Pichler, the director, said they searched for a year to find the actors, and then spent nine months getting them ready to film, and the care taken shows, as well as the talents of the leads. Aida is tough and uncompromising, Dana soft and sweet. Musse's amiability is tried dearly as he sees he is not as accepted as he had thought. As the three interact with their families and the people of the town, the film transitions from light and funny to deep and bittersweet. We discover an amazing friendship and insights into the tensions people of different backgrounds create and respond to as they interact.

In addition to the excellent acting from both the principals and the supporting actors, the film is beautifully shot and the drama and comedy are superb. It is probably my favorite film of the year.

I liked this film very much, more than I expected to after having read the other reviews. All of the acting was superb, as were the interactions between the characters. Yes, it was a bit melodramatic, with crises being resolved at the last minute, but that is true of many films! It felt operatic to me, partially because of the gorgeous music, but also because of the heightened drama of the plot. Before seeing it I wondered, do I really want to see another depressing film about the Holocaust? But it wasn't depressing, and made an important point about the lingering effects of that (or any) trauma on generations to come, and the difficulty with and need for forgiveness.