Grbavica

In Grbavica, Sarajevo, Esma Halilovic (Mirjana Karanovic) raises her teenage daughter Sara (Luna Mijovic) alone with many difficulties and working in double-shift. Every now and then Esma participates in a group therapy with other traumatized Bosnian women that have survived to the Balkan War. Esma needs two hundred Euros for the school trip of Sara and is working hard to raise the amount. When Sara is informed by her teacher that the martyr certificate of her father would grant her to travel for free, she presses her mother to give the document. But Esma borrows the money and pays the full price and Sara forces her mother to disclose the truth about her father.

"Grbavica" is a heartbreaking movie about the violence against women in the Balkan War. The touching and credible story is very simple but discloses in a very delicate way through the relationship of a mother abused in a women's camp and her spoiled and rebel teenage daughter. The performance of Mirjana Karanovic and the direction of Jasmila Zbanic are awesome and the result of their work will certainly bring tears to sensitive viewers. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Em Segredo" ("In Secret")

Highly recommended.

Sarajevo is a raped city, Bosnia is a raped country and the culprit, although known, has never been convicted. How a person, and a nation, finds a strength to overcome the injustice? Very difficult, sometimes impossible.

I hoped and prayed that Sarajevo has that strength, and still do, however, this movie showed me how heavy the burden is. It is personal, a message to each one of the viewers to try to put themselves in victim's shoes and see how they would cope. Hard core stuff. The film tries to put on a positive spin at the end, however, it wasn't that convincing, I am afraid.

Mira Karanovic is absolutely stunning!

Very simply a honest, straightforward and earnest film about a topic that is just so important to be informed about and discussed.

The camera-work is so to the point, so is every little piece of direction. The acting is sharp, clear and real all the way through. - I was hoping for Mirjana Karanovic (as well as Luna Mijovic) to win the Bear for their incredibly focused performances. Well, they didn't get it, shame, I thought, but then again, a golden bear for best film is not so bad either...! So congratulations to Jasmila and the whole team and the four different producers from four countries making this possible in joint effort! -

And given all these plain and clear ingredients, what you end up with is one of the most moving "movies" I have seen for a very long time.

This film is not about reinventing the wheel, it is simply all about showing how incredibly well a well made wheel can work.

This Movie is excellent, and it's starting in cinemas around Bosnia and Herzegovina March 1st.

GRBAVICA is a story about contemporary Sarajevo…

Single mother Esma wants to grant her twelve-year-old daughter Sara's wish to participate in a school trip. A certificate proving her father is a war martyr would allow her a discount. But Esma continues to avoid Sara's requests for the certificate. She would rather find a way to pay full price for the trip. She believes not telling the truth about Sara's father is a way to protect both her and her daughter.

It's moving and touching, but also very truthful to the post-war events. I hope it will hit cinemas worldwide or at least a DVD Realise. Grbavica's director won 1st Prize on the Berlin Movie Festival.

A heartfelt look at the real, often invisible and neglected consequences of war in lives of every day people, when all the macho posturing and political spectacle is over - broken lives, scarred bodies and "impure" histories tearing people apart not only in relation to each other but also within themselves. A subtly brutal and slow-burning, yet at the same time gently powerful film, reminding us how futile, shameful, stupid, and ultimately violent the imposition of "universal" historical memory is to people who just did not have a choice.