One of the main depictions of this film is the struggle of a young woman to survive encampment during the Bosnian war. The Yugoslav state suffered and became divided as Croats declared independence and the Serbians tried to claim what they thought was theirs. THe result was the encampment of Bosnians including the Main character Samira.
Samira is a very interesting character to say the least. Although one might think that Samira is selfish because she cares only about her survival because she sleeps with the Serbian captain running the camp, I believe there is a dual nature in our protagonist. Firstly, I think humans innately want to survive. I think its part of our nature and is why we have lasted thousands of years. Samira engages in survival sex even if it involves sleeping with a Serbian causing so much death and destruction. Even so, I think that the second part of Samira's nature is that she cares for others even if she does not want to. When she got gathered from the village, all she asked was who was to teach the children if she was gone. At the camp, one of the first things she does is help a sick man and give her bread to a hungry child. While engaging in the survival sex, she brings the other women food even if they call her out for holding onto her identity and also for seeing the captain. She takes care of the little girl after she was raped. At the very end of the movie, when she realizes she has a baby, she tries to abandon it. Emphasis on the "tries." She just couldn't. The final scene includes her coming back and breastfeeding the child as she cries. So even when trying to be selfish and abandon the product of a rape, she simply cannot help but to be there for the innocent.
That is the resilience of a lot of the women of the concentration camps. Many were raped and tortured. THere is not much to say for Bosniak men in the film since they were basically all killed, but this film portrays the strength of women in troubling times.
Samira is a very interesting character to say the least. Although one might think that Samira is selfish because she cares only about her survival because she sleeps with the Serbian captain running the camp, I believe there is a dual nature in our protagonist. Firstly, I think humans innately want to survive. I think its part of our nature and is why we have lasted thousands of years. Samira engages in survival sex even if it involves sleeping with a Serbian causing so much death and destruction. Even so, I think that the second part of Samira's nature is that she cares for others even if she does not want to. When she got gathered from the village, all she asked was who was to teach the children if she was gone. At the camp, one of the first things she does is help a sick man and give her bread to a hungry child. While engaging in the survival sex, she brings the other women food even if they call her out for holding onto her identity and also for seeing the captain. She takes care of the little girl after she was raped. At the very end of the movie, when she realizes she has a baby, she tries to abandon it. Emphasis on the "tries." She just couldn't. The final scene includes her coming back and breastfeeding the child as she cries. So even when trying to be selfish and abandon the product of a rape, she simply cannot help but to be there for the innocent.
That is the resilience of a lot of the women of the concentration camps. Many were raped and tortured. THere is not much to say for Bosniak men in the film since they were basically all killed, but this film portrays the strength of women in troubling times.