Juanita Wilson's As If I Am Not There is a powerful film, depicting the realities faced by Bosniaks during the Bosnian War. The film does not shy away from the brutal realities of mass murder and rape experienced in the war or from how the camp experience never leaves the survivors after liberation.
While encamped, there is a rumor among the women that a men's camp is nearby; however, this is not the case. As seen at the film's start, the men of the village were slaughtered, and this gendercide of military-aged men was widespread during the war; there would not have been an equivalent men's camp to camps for the women and children as the fathers, husbands, sons, and brothers of these women and children would have been murdered by the Serbian soldiers.
As for the rapes that occur inside of Samira's camp, these were, unfortunately, commonplace in camps during the Bosnian War. The film does well in showing how these women were abused at the hands of their Serbian captors as even children were not exempt from the sexual horrors of the camps. Some viewers might oppose the relationship between Samira and the captain, but it is important to acknowledge that their relationship could not have been consensual as it is impossible for a captor and an encamped person to have a consensual relationship inside of a camp. The captain still has complete control over Samira, and she engages in survival sex to better her own situation in the camp for which people who have never experienced encampment cannot judge her.
This film also did an great job at demonstrating the aftereffects of the camp as it did not stop at the joyous point of liberation. As result of her experience in the rape camp, Samira was left pregnant with a child and seeks out an abortion too far along in the pregnancy, being forced to carry the child full-term. It is evident how affected she is by her camp experience as she struggles to connect with her child, sobbing as she breastfeeds her newborn. The camp experience never ends for survivors; the horrors experienced in a camp will remain with them for the rest of their lives.
While encamped, there is a rumor among the women that a men's camp is nearby; however, this is not the case. As seen at the film's start, the men of the village were slaughtered, and this gendercide of military-aged men was widespread during the war; there would not have been an equivalent men's camp to camps for the women and children as the fathers, husbands, sons, and brothers of these women and children would have been murdered by the Serbian soldiers.
As for the rapes that occur inside of Samira's camp, these were, unfortunately, commonplace in camps during the Bosnian War. The film does well in showing how these women were abused at the hands of their Serbian captors as even children were not exempt from the sexual horrors of the camps. Some viewers might oppose the relationship between Samira and the captain, but it is important to acknowledge that their relationship could not have been consensual as it is impossible for a captor and an encamped person to have a consensual relationship inside of a camp. The captain still has complete control over Samira, and she engages in survival sex to better her own situation in the camp for which people who have never experienced encampment cannot judge her.
This film also did an great job at demonstrating the aftereffects of the camp as it did not stop at the joyous point of liberation. As result of her experience in the rape camp, Samira was left pregnant with a child and seeks out an abortion too far along in the pregnancy, being forced to carry the child full-term. It is evident how affected she is by her camp experience as she struggles to connect with her child, sobbing as she breastfeeds her newborn. The camp experience never ends for survivors; the horrors experienced in a camp will remain with them for the rest of their lives.