As If I Am Not There (2010)

Review: written October 2011

A movie to linger in your mind

Simultaneously compelling and nearly impossible to watch in places, this stark no frills account of the atrocities against women in the Bosnian conflict deserves an audience it alas may never find.

A beautiful young woman starts her life as a teacher, finding her first assignment in a remote part of Bosnia far from her home in Sarajevo. She finds herself caught up in the regions troubles when the village is `cleansed', with the women captured and the men killed, and the movie then dwells on the debasement she has to endure, and the choices she makes to keep a sense of her own humanity. No judgement is made here on whether her choices are good ones or bad ones, merely showing that in such circumstances it is indeed possible to retain a sense of dignity, where none is being offered.

The early scenes establishing the beauty of the countryside juxtapose with the harsh reality of what happens to the women at the camp, and cinematically the warmth of the early scenes and colours of the trees as she smiles on the way to her new life, contrast with the snow and clinical coldness of the interiors of the final shots. Beyond such minor touches, the telling is told mostly in a detached almost documentary style, leaving the drama to play across Natasha Pedrovic's face and eyes. And what a performance it is, anchoring the movie, making us care, and believe in the changes that happen to her. Her performance is quite astonishing, with the script kept magnificently in restraint, to beneficial effect. There is no lingering, or exaggerating, any of the horrors, merely an almost clinical telling of the facts.

Not a happy popcorn movie for your Saturday night by any means, but this is a well crafted movie on a difficult subject that rewards viewing, since it does not beat you over the head with any message. It merely shows the conditions and circumstances and asks the viewer to make their own mind up. Questions like.. was what she did a valid response to the circumstances? What would I have done had i been her? Or maybe scarier still... what would I have done had I been the captain ordered to make sure his men carried out the deeds? His assertion in the movie that she and he are both similarly just trying to find a way to survive, rings somewhat hollow when you see the inequality in power between them.

Just one final point - please do watch it for all the above reasons if you want to be challenged, don't watch it if you want an easy film to watch or are squeamish about your subject matter - and certainly don't fall for the prominent name checking of Stellan Skarsgard who has one or two lines and is gone quicker than a flash.