This film explores the complex relationship between two men, one who is Christian, the other Moslem, in war-torn Bosnia. In my attempt to understand how people who live side-by-side could brutalize and murder each other, "Shot Through The Heart" was an unsettling opportunity to gain some insight into a confusing and disturbing conflict. I am sure that many people in the United States have little point of reference with which to compare what is depicted in the film to our everyday life. Having read about the conflict in Bosnia, and studied Balkan history, I know, abstractly, of the age-old conflicts there. What this film did for me was to depict, in a very visceral way, the insanity of old hatreds that, bubbling to the surface, turn what should be abnormal, into the normal; society turned upside down. To see people sublimate their humanity to base and inhuman themes of ethnic purity raises the question to all of us; can we shed ourselves of all our prejudices and truly love our neighbor?
Review of Shot Through the Heart
