'Esma's Secret' is a film set in the European ordinariness of Sarejevo; but the bullet holes still visible in the city's plasterwork are a chilling reminder of the terrible conflict the erupted here in the early 1990s, fuelled by politicians trading on notions of supposed racial identity. The film explores the nature of life where many live with their own memories of war; it's a sensitive movie, although a somewhat obvious one (nothing here contradicts the "official" verdict that the Bosnians were the victims of the Serbs, something which may well be true in general, but a more interesting film might have probed the exceptions). What I enjoyed most was the convincing performance by Luna Mijovic as the teenage daughter of the central character Esma, full of rebelliousness and incipient sexuality. It's also nice to see a movie where the actors look like real people, not film stars.
Review of Grbavica
