Anatema (2006)

Director:

Agim Sopi

Writer:

Agim Sopi (writer)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

A woman who is raped and gives birth to a child in war torn Kosovo, struggles to keep her child.

Plot Keywords:

Journalist | Kosovo | Balkan War

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Lumnie Sopi	...	Ema Berisha
Doug Barron	...	David Schwartz
Blerim Gjoci	...	Komandant Shpati
Enver Petrovci	...	Colonel Lilich
Blerta Syla	...	Laura
Arta Muçaj	...	Doresa
Çun Lajçi	...	Dani
Rikard Ljarja
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bislim Muçaj	...	Isack

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

Albania

Language:

Albanian | Serbo-Croatian | English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Albania

Comment by Courtney MacNeil

Particularly when one thinks of the very real context that grounds this fictional tale, the film Anatema is emotionally taxing. Ema's strength of character amidst such turmoil, however, inspires, and her story offers important insight into the inner realms of war. Sopi, like his protagonist, seeks to make known the realities of his nation's past and present, and to ignite questions that have otherwise been ignored. Through Ema's eyes, we see images through which we have known Kosovo – guns, tanks, fires, corpses – but also images of life amidst the battle that remind us of the complexity of human interactions. For Sopi, the word of war is one of stark polarity, in which the most repulsive and most tender behaviors simultaneously emerge; it is a world in which army generals bathe in rose-petaled water while children starve on the streets, but also one in which friendships are forged with exceptional loyalty, and in which the daily atrocities are sometimes redeemed, or at least lessened, by simple acts of kindness. Insightful and sincere, the film demands our attention, and urges us to take up Ema's quest for truth into our own hands.