Review of As If I Am Not There

While it is at times extremely troubling to watch, As If I Am Not There is a startlingly realistic depiction of the Bosnian War. From scenes of whole villages being rounded up and the men murdered, to women being raped and brutalized by soldiers in secluded camps, this movie does an excellent job of representing the types of depravity that took place in the early 1990s. Wilson does not base Samira's story on a specific case, but uses her character to represent an amalgamation of testimonies from survivors. In this way, the events of the movie are not necessarily a 100% accurate representation of a single person's experiences, but they include some of the terrible conditions and actions that these survivors had to endure. For instance, the practice of trading sexual acts for better treatment, food, or living conditions was not necessarily unheard of, but was a means of survival, not pleasure. In the film, Samira's relationship with the Captain causes the viewer to question Samira's moral involvement in the despicable treatment of her fellow inmates. In a similar way, Samira's seemingly compliant attitude and lack of opposition to the Serb forces has drawn some criticism for the film. However, in a women's camp where Samira was kept separate from the majority of the other inmates, it is unlikely that this expectation of a rebellion or opposition would have been possible, and could have even led to greater harm. It is difficult to make moral decisions in situations like those portrayed in this film, and I appreciate this realism to a great extent. It is not flashy, or thrilling, but in this way, it avoids over-dramatization that often cheapens the message of similar movies. In addition to the relative accuracy of events, this film also makes an attempt to depict the complexity of the conflict. Throughout the movie, Wilson includes scenes that seem to humanize the Serbian soldiers, and show that these men were not just monsters, but men, friends of brothers, husbands, and fathers. This did not make me any more sympathetic toward their characters, but this effort hints to the multi-faceted nature of this conflict, and attempts to mitigate the antagonism placed on the Serbian army. During the conflict, Bosniak Muslims, Croats, and Serbians were all victims and aggressors, but the Bosnian War is often presented only as a story of Serbian aggressors committing terrifying atrocities against Bosnian Muslims. This perspective is a very significant piece of the history to recognize, but it is important to realize that it is far from black-and-white. Overall, this movie does a tremendous job with communicating this part of history in a powerfully realistic way, and I encourage anyone who is interested in watching it to do so.