The opening scene of "Welcome To Sarajevo" astounded me. It was so unbelievable in fact that I spent quite a lot of time re-watching it, making sure that what I had seen wasn't a figment of my imagination and it wasn't something I was misinterpreting.
I kept thinking over and over, Are they filming a movie? Where are the microphone men? When is that woman going to get up? Is someone gonna call cut soon?
It took me a second to realize that this was real life... and that the people filming were apparently just there to document, not to help out (as was stated by a very shaken up camera man halfway through the movie). I was so angry for a minute or two (maybe for the length of the movie...), angry at the people who were watching others die, who were basically ignoring the fallen, using them as 'necessary' sacrifices for their documentaries, filming the horrors of genocide and death without lending a physical helping hand.
I guess it was important though, important to see what was happening in Sarajevo and the news wouldn't have been able to get out if every single reporter and camera man had dived to the rescue of a poor woman or child getting shot at. It makes my heart hurt, but I guess it's true.
It seems to me though, that the filmmakers and the reporters seemed to be to emotionally detached from the whole situation. Wouldn't seeing dead bodies with limbs ripped apart in the middle of the street bother you? Wouldn't the image of a bride on her wedding day being shot at rub you the wrong way?
Maybe that's why they were constantly drowning themselves in alcohol, keeping their heads down and ignoring what was around them... if they acted out, they would die. And I guess that goes against the basic instinct of survival.
My anger was appeased a little when I saw how the reporters would get so incredibly angry when their extremely important and eye opening newscasts would be replaced and brushed aside for news of the royal British family. People didn't seem to really care, because it wasn't happening to them.
That seems to be such a pattern with humanity. As long as it's far away from here, we might send a little money, we might shake our heads and we will definitely switch the channel, but we will forget it the next day. It's just not happening at our front door. While Welcome to Sarajevo showed the views of outsiders more than anything, the book The Cellist of Sarajevo really delves deep into the relationship of the locals with this genocide, and the fact that no one really seemed to care.
The novel really brought into light the dehumanization of these people, being shot and killed with nothing to spare. It is distinct in the novel the thought that there are no people, there are no humans. There are just the good guys and the bad guys, and each side is pointing the finger... and the gun.
You bring up an interesting point because it is a film and the director did say cut, and the woman did get up! It isn't real life, it is a representation of what happened to people in Sarajevo. You have not discussed the nove sufficiently, Mar. Your generalizations about dehumanization do not adequately deal with the three characters or with the cellist himself. In each character and in the cellist there is a resistance to dehumanization. That is the point of the novel.
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ReplyDeleteMar,
ReplyDeleteI understand your anger at seeing the images. Isn't it amazing how that anger can be dispersed in so many directions almost simultaneously.
Sometimes anger can be good though because it can cause us to act to put things right. More than anger, I think of how I would respond in a similar situation. I would like to believe I would do the honorable thing; but it's hard to know what goes through one's mind in such situations. The Cellist gave us some insight into how people dealt with situations and their own frustration with their own actions. Who knows how we would act? But we would have to eventually work through it like the characters did and hopefully we would maintain our humanity in the process. Upon seeing the suffering children in Welcome to Sarajevo it made me think about how I could help in such circumstances where children are still affected. Can I become involved in some way, can I uplift their spirits? But sadly as the film showed even if you were directly involved it is plain to see how bureaucracy and red tape can halt one from helping. It also showed the continual crying and screaming there by so many; so could I really handle that? Then we saw in The Cellist how people donated food from around the world, and the food never got to the ones that needed it. It is so disheartening; so then you think, why even donate to causes? I've heard it said that you give because Biblically it is what you are called to do. Don't worry if it might not get there, that is out of your hands. But at least you did the humanitarian thing in hopes that it will get to those that need it. It helps maintain our own humanity and not become despondent over the inhumanity of others, thereby doing nothing. But it still takes discernment for we also do not want to keep giving and enabling the ones that are dishonest and taking the donations and selling it at exorbitant prices to the victims for whom it was intended to be free.
The reporters initially have to put up a facade, sort of like Arrow changing her name to survive and do what she needs to do though it contradicts with her true values. The reporters have a purpose there to give the world a glimpse of what is happening in war torn cities. They can seem cold-hearted, but that front needs to be there for them to get the information to the world; so that the world is not ignorant and so that the perpetrators or regimes are hopefully not allowed to continue their inhumane treatment of people uninhibited. But it will affect them one way or another whether they show it or hide it. Their seeming coldness may even be a way to protect themselves; but they will have to deal with it eventually. But it is awesome when they are able to help, and get their message out. I also wonder: It seems the media is often protected from the enemy. So, if they did openly help the victims and not just report the information would that jeopardize their safety and the safety of future journalism and bring a lhat to the public getting an eyewitness view.
“Wouldn't the image of a bride on her wedding day being shot at rub you the wrong way?
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's why they were constantly drowning themselves in alcohol, keeping their heads down and ignoring what was around them.” I have a simplistic mind and take things very much at face value, especially when watching a film. As you do, I love trying to figure out what is actually going on in the minds of the characters in a film. Most of the time, you and I have the same thoughts in regards to character thoughts, but in this instance I disagree. The news crews do see these things on a daily basis. It is their job. However, I think that they drown themselves in alcohol simply because they can. Although they are in the thick of things while documenting the siege, they are still protected by their broadcasting company. Thus, they have the ability to do as they please after shooting footage. Journalist Flynn, for lack of a better term, is an ass. His M.O. is to get the best footage possible and bring it back to his people. I honestly do not think he care too much about the situation going on. So, after a good day of footage, he parties in celebration.