The film, Welcome to Sarajevo and the book, The Cellist of Sarajevo, gives us as the audience two great ways of learning the effects and events that took place during the siege. Welcome to Sarajevo, brings us right into the heart of reporters telling us about what they are experiencing, this film has a very similar resemblance to Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg. A business man willing to risk his own life to save others, during the genocide of Jews and in this we see a reporter risk his life to aid the locals during the siege. The Cellist of Sarajevo a young musician continuing to play his cello at the site of an attack to maintain the mood. This is much like the novel the Pianist, where he plays the piano to maintain the mood during the Holocaust. They may not have been playing for the same reason, but both maintain their passion to play music for others during a genocide taking place. The siege of Sarajevo may have been the longest in modern history, but the Holocaust and this siege share many similar characteristics of dehumanizing individuals for reasons of power.
Many scenes in the novel express to us how scared and dehumanizing it was for the citizens to witness their fellow citizens lose their lives at any moment. “Dragon tries to count the seconds since the sniper last fired, tries to figure out how much time they have before the next bullet comes”(118). The citizens are on hiding in anticipation of the next shooting to take place; will it be them or someone near them? Do they have time to run and hide? As outsiders we see this as a very inhumane way to live, day by day literally minute by minute. In the very next paragraph he says “He can’t look away from the street, where the hatless man is trying to crawl, and a centimeter at a time, to safety. There’s an expanding smear of blood surrounding him, and although Dragon knows the streets around him is full of noise, he doesn’t hear a sound” (118-119). Dragon having to witness a man who was shot and being too afraid to help for fear he himself may be shot next. The man as he says is crawling to safety, if someone is in this dire need of help, we should help them. All human reflexes to help others are taking from you under this type of situation. You are unable to think clear and logically. These Serbs were out seeking Muslims and achieving massive deaths, just as the Nazi’s did in attacking all the Jews.
The film we see reporters stepping around and completely overlooking the hurt and people in need. I do realize that they are there to do a job and that is to report what is taking place so others can understand. I do not understand one human can walk away from another in need of real help. You always hear that you must keep business and personal separate; I do believe that is true in most cases. However, out in the field of a siege as this one taking place brings a whole new level. Reporters must maintain their composer, but as a human how are you to actually hold back your sympathy for those suffering around you. This goes on for quite a while in the movie, and then we see a turn in one of the reporters. Later in the movie, Henderson one of the reports has to tell a little girl that her parents have been killed. This was the turning point of reporter like characteristic of being dehumanized, he regains his human nature and promise to resuce this little girl away from the siege. This little girl really touched his life; he was very much in aid for all the children there as well. As a reporter doing what he has done, made him make a very significant choice. Henderson had to choose between his long career of a reporter and saving the young lady. He made choice he could live with for the rest of his life.
You can try and take control over people and their lives as they once knew. The Serbs tried here and the Nazi’s did, but you are not going to get them all. There are some individuals who are not afraid to stand up or take a stand for what they have always believed in and stood for. A person’s integrity is all we have as humans and no one should be able to take this away.
Your comment about keeping business (reporting) separate fro what is happening to the humans around the reporter is important. The fact that the reporter gains some humanity during the siege is important because it will probably make his reporting better. He will see with a more critical eye. A good part of the Western world ignored what the Serbs were doing to Sarajevo, and even when the UN went in, members of the UN peacekeeping team committed atrocities.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if "maintaining the mood" is the right description of what the cellist of Sarajevo did. The "mood" was terror-inspired, and what the cellist did was relieve that suffering for a few minutes each day, to remind everybody that life is worth living. The people who lost their lives in the breadline will never hear music again, through no fault of their own. It is up to the living to appreciate the beauty in just being alive, on behalf of those whose lives were lost, trudging though the dirt.
ReplyDeleteI think the comparison between the Siege of Sarajevo and the Holocaust is an interesting idea, the dehumanizing nature of snipers and shelling is definitely different from the systematic slaying of millions, but they both have the desired effect of terror.
I want to agree with my namesake, Ellie Rogers, who points to your usage of the phrase "maintaining the mood." I don't think that's really accurate. The cello playing, to me, was an act of pure therapy, both personally, for the cellist, and as a way of seeking to heal the community. It was less of a lament of the destruction, and more of a spiritual in the vein of "we shall overcome." It seemed to me that the cellist sought to inspire his countrymen to keep the faith and believe that good things could come to Sarajevo again someday.
ReplyDeleteI liked your point about the reporters stepping around the hurt and dying people to capture the image on film. I agree that the reporter who risked his life to save a young Bosnian girl seemed to gain some humanity and empathy after witnessing such atrocious events. In contrast with Flynn, another reporter who seemed mostly to drink and party in night clubs, the main character seemed to gain more insight and grow to have a genuine care for the city and people of Sarajevo. I cannot imagine how, witnessing all of the atrocities that took place, one could still remain detached. However, the reporters, especially how they were depicted in the beginning of the film, seemed completely detached from the situation and focused on getting a story rather than helping the people of Sarajevo. This raises an interesting question about the role of media in these events. It is easy to see how they help in raising awareness and depicting the reality of the events taking place; however, it is also easy to question how one could be present where people are dying and not do anything within his or her power to help.
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