Berlin International Film Festival 2006

Dir: Jasmila Zbanic

Unfortunately, following the collapse of communism, these very people began to wield power and the clumsy collective presidency was undermined by a statement on television by then German Foreign Minister Hans Deitrich Genscher supporting the notion of Croatian autonomy. With that, the seeds of destruction had been set. Yugoslavia had been well placed to become the first new member to join the European Union from the former Communist block, but slid into conflict and the disgraceful term 'ethnic cleansing' became a euphemism for mass murder, rape and destruction. A million people lost their homes, a hundred thousand people died and tens of thousands of women were attacked and raped.

When awarded the Golden Bear for her film 'Grbavica', director Jasmila Zbanic first pointed out that although protagonists like Karadzic and Mladic are wanted for war crimes, attempts to capture them have been perfunctory and they continue to move freely through Europe.

'Grbavica' sets out the depressing consequences of rape as a weapon of war and political ambition. A young girl has reached the age when she wants to know more about her father. What kind of man was he? The answer is that he was a 'war hero', who served on the front line of conflict. He raped his enemies, one of whom was her mother and the girl was born of that violence.

Policy makers and politicians, aided by hisorians, often try to 'draw a line' under events and start afresh with economic development and subventions. Zbanic's film reveals the fallacy behind such thinking, revealing that for Bosnia and the people of Sarajevo, the wounds inflicted by pointless conflict will have consequences for decades to come.