AllMovie

The breakup of the old Communist regime in Yugoslavia was, for many if not most of the people living in that area, an unqualified disaster. In 1992, war broke out among the diverse regions in that former nation, between the section that still called itself Yugoslavia, and Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia. The world learned of the term "ethnic cleansing" for the first time. This documentary focuses on the plight formerly tolerant and cosmopolitan city of Sarajevo, where many different ethnicities once lived together in relative harmony, and the culture was correspondingly enriched. At the time of the documentary, the first phase of the greater Serbian offensive against all non-Serb "minorities" was well underway, and inhabitants of the city are hard-pressed to find food, bury their dead, and continue to produce a local newspaper. The movie chronicles the progressive deterioration of the once thriving life of that fabled city.