Bosnian Pride and Western Prejudice
A sleepy village somewhere in the Bosnian provinces. The white mosque rises above unassuming little houses in picturesque beauty. This is where Ibro and his 14-year-old son Armin set out. Armin is heading for a film casting.
The idea is a disaster from the word go. The clapped-out bus that is supposed to take the father and son to Zagreb breaks down – just the start of a whole series of misfortunes.
The tragicomedy "Armin" tells the story of a journey that starts out with great hope for fame and fortune and ends with a little bit of luck.
Mixture of naivety and shrewd common sense
The Croatian director Ognjen Svilicic's protagonists chase after their dreams in a thoroughly likeable way.
With a mixture of naivety and shrewd common sense, Ibro tries to make his son a star. By night, he befriends the cameraman in the hotel bar, by day he follows the production assistant's every step.
The Bosnian actor Emir Hadzihafisbegovic gives a brilliant performance, creating a believable and authentic character. This father is torn between love for his son and disappointment at his apparent lack of acting ability.
And the young actor Armin Omerovic-Muhedin slips so convincingly into the role of the tight-lipped, shy wannabe actor that the boundary between performance and reality becomes blurred.
Hope for a better future
The semi-documentary character of "Armin" is continued in the laconic dialogues and long, calm camera shots. It seems almost as if the film accompanies a piece of real life. The lives of people who want to finally put the war behind them and secure themselves a place in a better future.
It's just that no one is interested. At least no one who comes to Bosnia especially to put picturesque war victims on the silver screen. Quite the opposite. The simple casting candidate Armin is only of interest for the western film production when a German actress (Marie Bäumer) suspects that the clumsy lad might be traumatised by the war.
The Croatian director and screenplay author Ognjen Svilicic has made a statement with this small, unpretentious film. A statement against all the clichés behind our current ideas of the Balkans.
With subtle humour, "Armin" exposes a western film culture that looks to Bosnia for just the right atmosphere for suffering and war dramas.
German co-funding
Svilicic's protagonists contradict this one-dimensional point of view. They are not flat caricatures with a past made up of bloodthirsty horror.
And instead of war victims, the film tells the story of the difficult relationship between a proud father and a son who is just as proud.
At the Berlin Film Festival, Svilicic emphasised that the Balkan countries offer just as much material in times of peace, if one only looks for it. Perhaps, said the 36-year-old Croatian, his film might be the start of a general change of perspective.
He saw it as a positive signal that a German production company co-financed "Armin". This kind of involvement is important, he said, because it shows that it is possible to look beyond "the always identical Balkan subjects" in Western Europe too.
For the future, Svilicic hopes for more courageous projects that discover his region as a setting for interesting film stories. "Without all the war games."
Ariana Mirza
© Qantara.de 2007
Translated from the German by Katy Derbyshire
Qantara.de
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