Balkans Film Primer
When I started up my tour business in 2005 in Slovenia, a common question would be: Hey, isn’t there still a war going on there? Well, actually, no, but there were many battles raging and borders shifting during the 20th century here . Few places in Europe are as diverse and spectacular as Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and the rest of the Balkans. But there is also a lot of recent history here from the spark of the First World War in Sarajevo, to the partisan’s guerrilla warfare against Hitler, and onto the 24-hr news cycle of the wars here in the 1990s.
I must admit iIt’s all a bit confusing to most. So, to enhance your travel experience when you come to visitout here, sit down with a few tubs of popcorn and your favorite soda and get yourselfyour self educated, if not entertained, with these five films.
Valley of Peace - Set in Slovenia during the Second World War, this 1950s Yugoslavian production focuses on a young brother and sister who flee their orphanage and come across a black American airman downed over Yugoslavia. It’s a haunting coming of age film for which American actor (and WW2 veteran) John Kitzmiller won a Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first black actor to do so. He later went on to co-star alongside Sean Connery in the first Bond movie, Dr. No.
Valley of Piece, 1956
Welcome to Sarajevo - This 1997 film chronicles the lives of journalists in wartime Sarajevo during the ‘90s and stars Woody Harrelson and Marisa Tomei.. Like most films about this period, it is hard to make sense of the whole situation without knowledge of the war, but it’s a good place to start and not nearly as nihilistic as many films on this topic.
Welcome to Sarajevo, 1997
Before the Rain - A 1995 film that toggles back and forth between 3 stories in both London and newly independent North Macedonia (Macedonia or FYROM as it was known at the time), it tackles ethnic and religious tensions in the Balkans. The cinematography is gorgeous, and it helped put Macedonia and its beautiful 12th-century monasteries on my travel radar when the film came out. It racked up many international awards and prizes before culminating in a 1995 Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film.
Before the Rain, 1995
Pretty Village, Pretty Flame - Debuting in A 1996, this Serbian film depicts the unenviable situation of so many Yugoslavs during the war in the ‘90s war as they were pitted against friends. In this gritty, well- directed war film, filmmaker Srđan Dragojević creates claustrophobic suspense and tension (most of the protagonists are trapped in a mountain tunnel). He throws in just enough black humor and character development so that when the violence comes, it registers as more than just a body count.
Pretty Village, Pretty Flame, 1996
The Hunting Party - In this A 2007 American black comedy/adventure film about Bosnian war, journalists (played by Richard Gere, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg) reunite ten years later and end up going on a wild goose chase to try and track down a notorious war criminal who still has a $5 million bounty on his head. It has a good mix of satire, politics and locales all around Bosnia and the Balkans. I especially like the “ just desserts” ending. If only all real war criminals could suffer this way instead of enjoying their cosy prison cell in The Hague... This is easily my most rewatchable film from this list.
The Hunting Party, 2007
