The native title of the film translates as "At uncle Idriza's". Imagine visiting your old grandparents in their village house, do not expect more than that, certainly nothing spectacular. However once you accept this fact, the film is very nice! The director's accuracy in portraying the typical is stunning! Every single detail of the people's habits, that I know by actually meeting people like the characters in the film, is there. I was quite fascinated to discover how much the same we are across families and even across countries, down to the smallest jests! This neighbourhood and these granddad and grandma could be in the outskirts of Sarajevo, could be elsewhere in former Yugoslavia, or could be in my country, Bulgaria...
There is something that sets this Sarajevo apart though - the tragic and irretrievable loss of a son seven years ago.
The war is invisible to us but thinly feels through, being part of the past of everyone there. Indeed, it is maybe the main point of the film to show us that a troubled society will naturally return back to a completely usual and inconspicuous life, yet the pain will never fully disappear within those generations.
I would think the film might be too literally close to everyday life to be exciting for its native audience (as not a native to language, I could have missed slight hyperbolisation and humour?). It would be mostly appealing to those who have left their countries in the region, as a nostalgic memory of home, and for those foreigners with genuine interest in studying Balkan life. One day when the capitalist society, God forbid, has been completely established here and the family/kin/neighbourhood relations had fully disintegrated, the film will be also of great documentary value.
There is something that sets this Sarajevo apart though - the tragic and irretrievable loss of a son seven years ago.
The war is invisible to us but thinly feels through, being part of the past of everyone there. Indeed, it is maybe the main point of the film to show us that a troubled society will naturally return back to a completely usual and inconspicuous life, yet the pain will never fully disappear within those generations.
I would think the film might be too literally close to everyday life to be exciting for its native audience (as not a native to language, I could have missed slight hyperbolisation and humour?). It would be mostly appealing to those who have left their countries in the region, as a nostalgic memory of home, and for those foreigners with genuine interest in studying Balkan life. One day when the capitalist society, God forbid, has been completely established here and the family/kin/neighbourhood relations had fully disintegrated, the film will be also of great documentary value.