An Analysis of Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams and the Women Rape in Bosnia - Essay Example

? An Analysis of “Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams” and the Women Rape in Bosnia Outline An conclusions as to what made the film so special Determining what particular angles were used in the film to have a greater impact on the viewers and better portray the situation Evaluation of the film in general in relation to its context which was the aftermath of rape in the Bosnian The focus of this paper mainly delves at critically analyzing the movie “Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams", a film telling a story of a single mother in a post-war Sarajevo. Specifically, this aims at dealing with three points. First, it aims to grasp an understanding what made the film so special that it had won several awards at the Berlin Film Festival including Golden Berlin Bear award which is regarded as the highest prize given for the film in Europe. Second, it intends to determine what particular angles were used in the film to have a greater impact on the viewers and portray the situation itself. Third, it targets to evaluate the film in general in relation to its context which was the aftermath of rape in the Bosnian war. Through having a critical analysis of the film this paper yields a deeper understanding on the rape in Bosnia. First, Grbavica is no wonder an exceptional movie because of its contemporary context of exploring the emotional toll of women who had been victims of rape during the Bosnian war through the life experience of Esma, a single mother of her teenage daughter, Sara. Since the war has ended, it is the case that the impacts of such experiences on these women are now taken for granted reality of our world today. Nonetheless, Jasmila Zbanic, the director of the film, had considered the reality that even if the war was indeed over, the traumatic past had emotionally lingered its victims and even extended to the children whom were products of rape. No matter how much had these women including Esma tried to just forget what happened before, without a doubt, putting these memories in the realm of forgetfulness was not easy. Similarly, Grbavica is very unique for the reason that it did not have to demonstrate any scene of gun battles, explosions or even rape but it was able to communicate what message it had through an unobtrusive way. Second, the film had made a significant impact to its viewers for the reason that it endeavored to re – live the effects of what happened during the period of Bosnian war. The mother – daughter tandem portrayed in the movie was of course a powerful angle itself to create impact on the viewers. There was a mother who had tried to conceal the truth to her daughter’s identity of being a product of rape. Instead of abandoning her and hating her for Sara was a result of that rape by the Chetniks, there was Esma who instead had taken care of her and trying to raise money for her the school trip. This angle itself was indeed a moving part of the film because of a mother’s unconditional love to her daughter. It is the case that when she had given birth to Sara, Esma’s confession monologue was indeed a very emotive angle that can impact its spectators. Another touching part of the movie was the group counselling part where all together, the rape victims were sharing their very own personal experiences even though some of them had avoided revealing what they were going through. This angle was enough to say the strong psychological and emotional consequences of the war even if the war had ended years ago. Aside from that, the heart – breaking part of the movie was the devastating and shocking moment of truth when Sara had violently confronted her mother about the truth regarding his father where Esma told her that she was a product of rape. In addition to that, the ending itself was a great angle to show acceptance of reality and freedom from the past. Third, in the evaluation of the film in relation to its context which was the aftermath of rape in the Bosnian war, the scenes were enough to impart the psychological and emotional trauma as effects of the war though it was not discussed and portrayed in detail what the experiences of the Bosnian women were during that era. During the Bosnian war, the rape and sexual abuses on these 20,000 to 50,000 girls and women in estimate were used not just as a random but a systematic tool of war (Stiglmayer, Faber, Enloe and Gutman 85, 86, 198). Rape was a systematic weapon of war. According to the report of the United Nations Commissions on Breaches of Geneva Law in Former Yugoslavia in 1992, the perpetrators, the Serbs, were ordered to rape these women repeatedly so that they could get pregnant and bear children of the offender’s ethnicity. These sexual abuses were done not only to humiliate the victim but also to extend this humiliation to their community as well as ethnicity. These women were detained and raped repeatedly in the rape camps. They were kept until it was too late to abort these babies. Aside from being raped, these women were beaten up and tortured. In some instances, women were selected and taken out of the detention centres to get raped by the direct orders of the authorities. Some were even kept in custody of the Serbian forces for the sexual abuses to take place. The networks of these armies were invited to sexually abuse these women for a long period of time. Indeed, women had to live in such a very inhumane as well as unhygienic condition. In the book entitled “War Crimes and Just War”, May stated that specific targets of rape and sexual abuse were the Bosnian and Croatian women; some of them were as young as 12 years old (237). Nonetheless, during the war, the Bosnian Muslims were the largest number of reported victims. These rapes and sexual abuses were conducted against the individuals of different ethnicity. Stiglmayer, Faber, Enloe and Gutman, rape was a tool for ethnic cleansing (85, 86 and 198). Ferguson agreed that the conduct of mass rape was really an instrument of ethnic cleansing as being an ill – advised nationalism (626 – 631). These women victims of rape were raped by the Serbian forces with a political purpose of intimidating, degrading and humiliating them and their whole ethnicity (Stiglmayer, Faber, Enloe and Gutman 85, 86 and 198). Given such mass rape to the Bosnian and Croat women, the consequences were not limited to physical aspects alone but indeed had extended to the emotional and psychological impacts. Loncar, Medved, Jovanic and Hotujac stated that none had any psychiatric past before the incidences of rapes. Nonetheless, all these women suffered psychologically ranging from suicidal thoughts, depression, and deep immediate and long – term consequences (67 – 75). Through the critical analysis of the film, Grbavica, a deeper understanding on the mass rape during the Bosnian war is gained even without the portrayals of scenes of rape, sexual abuse, torture, gun fights and explosion. The small dramatic plot of mother and daughter tandem was indeed enough to impart to its viewers the tragic past of suffering during the period of Bosnian war. The difficulty of accepting such fact of being sexually abused by the Chetniks or Serbian forces was not only limited to the lives of the rape victims but also had extended to the children of rape. For the large part, this damage is not only a matter of harming one’s life but of destructing some identity that can be traced from one’s roots, socially, politically and ethnically. At the end of the day, after the war, conflict is over through realizing, rooting and accepting one’s real identity. This is what Grbavica was all about. There is conflict even after the war because of its consequences. Nonetheless, no one is bound forever to be stuck in such tragic past. This trauma can be reconciled through acceptance together by Esma and Sara. Works Cited Ferguson, Niall. The War of the World. Penguin, 2007. Print. Loncan, M., V. Medved, N. Jovanovic, and L. Hotujac. “Psychological Consequences of Rape on Women in 1991-1195 War in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina”. Croatian Medical Journal 47.1 (2006): 67 – 75. Print. May, Larry. War Crimes and Just War. Cambridge University Press, 2007. Print. Stiglmayer, Alexandra., Marion Faber, Cynthia Enloe, and Roy Gutman. Mass Rape: The War Against Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina. University of Nebraska Press, 1994. Print. Zbanic, Jasmila. Dir. Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams. 2006. Print. Read More