AllMovie

This moving, highly personal documentary reflects an unusually intimate journey into the lives of Sarajevo residents whose lives were torn apart during the Bosnian war. The filmmaker Tahir Cambis is an Australian actor whose parents were immigrants from Bosnia. Desiring insight into the war, Cambis first attempted to go to his parents hometown of Sarajevo when the war broke out but was seriously wounded en route. This film was shot in 1995 during his second attempt, and instead of trying to make it alone, Cambis brought along cameraman Roman Baska and hired Sarajevo resident Alma Sahbaz as their sound recordist. Because Cambis has family in the city, he was able to delve more deeply into the lives of his subjects, which include an ill-fated young woman and her mother. In depicting the lives of the afflicted, Cambis imbues the film with blatantly anti-Serb sentiments.