Anatema

Despite the fact Anatema is obviously a non-professional and mostly amateur production, if you are able to bear the terrible acting of the first 15 minutes, you´ll find out this film tells a painful story that depicts pretty well the horrors of the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and the misguided actions of NATO and the UN. To anyone interested on how mean human beings could be to each other, if we are given the chance, watching this movie would be a must; because this is the kind of cinema that reminds us Walter Benjamin´s quote: "There is no document of culture that is not at the same time a document of barbarism".

When mortal humans take the courage to sit face to face with the 'Goddess of War' and to see that which should remain unseen, and to speak for that, that is forbidden, then consciously face the condemnation. Such is Ema Berisha, the journalist from Kosova, the protagonist of the film 'ANATHEMA', The heroine at war and the hateful traitor in freedom. The war of Kosova, projected as a war principally against the civil population, part of which was Ema Berisha, has taken place far away from the eyes of the world, far away from the eyes of the mediums. In front of the 'blind spectator' to whom it was served only the fancy of that, that really happened. The events had been circulated from mouth-to-mouth, from family to families, from village to villages. And somewhere among the mud roads of the postwar Kosova, the dramatic events were hidden or disappeared completely from the collective's memory. In this manner was hidden the destiny of Ema Berisha and thousands of raped women as a sign of revenge. Without their blame, it was hidden the destiny of thousands of destroyed life's. While treating the destiny of the raped woman, this subject with such sensibility, face to one patriarchal mentality, in spite of that, the film 'ANATHEMA' does not claim to change the world or to save the human being, but speaking about that, that is forbidden to be spoken unfolding that, that dare not to be seen pretends to offer an alternative more encouraging and more human.

History and politics aside, Anatema stinks. I saw this at a film festival a couple of years ago and remember it as probably the most grueling movie-going experience of my life. Anatema is one of those self-righteous duds that seeks to dictate to you exactly how you're supposed to feel about everything. If it wants you to feel outraged and saddened (which it usually does), it shows you a row of orphaned girls crying on cue, etc, etc.

Anatema was bad, beyond bad, so relentlessly depressing and tasteless it brought tears to my eyes. I sat miserably, stupefied, twitching and sweating with the effort of stifling my giggles. I didn't know whether to laugh out loud or slash my wrists, and the only reason I didn't run screaming out of the theater is that some person connected with the production was in attendance, and I didn't want to humiliate him.

If you feel passionately about the atrocities depicted in Anatema, you should abhor this film for trivializing the subject, turning it into an unwatchable exercise in cheapjack manipulative propaganda.

The horrors committed by the Serbian former Communists and their Bosnian Serb allies were horrendous, and the Free World's feckless response was a scandal, which has yet to be adequately captured on film. The Hunting Party had some intriguing moments, but was undercut by a weak lead performance and displayed more interest in criticizing NATO for a lack of zealousness pursuing war criminals than dramatizing the actual crimes. Though not perfect, writer-director Agim Sopi's Anatema (trailer here), now available on DVD, serves as a valuable corrective, shining a light on Serbian war crimes, in this case committed in Kosovo. Sopi's original intention was to document war crimes occurring in Kosovo with a documentary, but when the Serbian army confiscated his film, he was forced to shift his efforts to a narrative film. After surviving the subsequent brutality of the Serbs, Schwartz broadcasts his report, only to be recalled by his network due to the impending NATO intervention. He and his field producer want to take Berisha with them, but she insists on returning to her home in Pristine. Despite the temporary joy of a reunion with her fiancé, leading to their long postponed wedding, Pristine quickly turns into a nightmare. The Serbian forces occupy the city, deliberating using organized rape as a tool of terror and pacification, before expelling the survivors to Albania. On her return to Kosovo, Berisha is rejected by her husband and spurned by most of her friends. Nobody wants her to keep her baby (which for all she knows could be the product of her wedding night). The Kosovars do not want her to keep the presumed product of Serbian war crimes and issue of Serbian blood. The Serbs do not want such babies to survive as evidence of their crimes. Berisha is determined not to punish Ana, her unborn daughter, for the crimes of others. Indeed, Anatema (Ana + Ema) may well be the most pro-life film ever made. Berisha is forced to temporarily give up Ana for adoption, but when she returns to claim her, the agency is gone. She tracks Ana to a astery appropriated by the old Communists and novae mobsters trafficking in babies, both for profit and disposing of war crimes evidence. Anatema is at heart a mother's story and as such is wholly dependent on its lead actress. Unlike Richard Gere in Hunting Party, Lumnie Sopi is terrific as Ema. Unfortunately, many of the supporting actors are considerably weaker, although Blerim Gjoci is likeably credible as the sympathetic Kosovar Commander Shpati. Director Sopi truly takes the audience to occupied Kosovo, rightly forcing viewers to confront the reality of the war crimes committed there. However, he can be a bit heavy-handed, as when he shows a stampeding crowd trampling a baby's doll. Still, his portrayals of Serbian brutality and the clueless ness of the international policing forces are infuriatingly effective, all of which is ultimately held together by an impressive lead performance.

This is genuinely, and I'm not exaggerating, the worst film I have ever seen. Because of the seriousness of the topic, it can't be a The Room "so bad it's good" type of film. This horrible monstrosity is offensive to me as a film student and as a Kosovo Albanian simultaneously. I simply wish it had never been made.