This film, although extremely emotionally tolling and difficult to watch, is an important film depicting a women's internment camp during the Bosnian war. The main character, Samira, provides an accurate insight into the struggles facing women in these camps. These insights reach beyond our knowledge of the already terrible rapes and assaults that were so prominent, and give a look at the internal struggles facing these women and the effects of this treatment.
The beginning of the film depicts the men being separated from the women, brought outside, and all shot to death. This is such a small, short scene in the film which demonstrated the normalcy of these murderous acts. It was't something the movie had to focus in on, it was clear what was happening and no questions had to be asked.
The film then moves on to the main focus: Samira's experience in this dehumanizing camp. The film contains little dialogue, however dialogue is unneeded. Samira's facial expressions, body language and actions are enough to depict the pain and suffering she experiences throughout her time in the camp. In fact, the lack of dialogue is a smart choice on the part of Juanita Wilson because it allows the viewers to feel what Samira must have felt and allows them to throw themselves into her character more than if Samira had just described her feelings in words. It also demonstrates how women in these camps really were forced into silence following the things they had to endure. After the first rape, Samira could barely speak. She struggled to recover from this haunting experience and hid away in silence for a while until she realized that she was a human, not an animal as they saw her, and swore to grasp back onto her "womanhood" by putting on makeup and trying to look nice, something the other women disapproved of.
This film also depicts the blurred line of morality in these camps. When Samira starts sleeping with the captain, there is a debate among the other women that she overhears. One says they would do the same thing while the other says it's a disgrace. Samira is doing what she thinks she has to do to survive, no matter how wrong it may be. The dynamic between Samira and the captain is obviously one where the captain has the upper hand. This is clearly still a case of rape because consent cannot exist in a camp such as this. Samira is aware of her lack of power in this situation and the captain is aware that Samira will do anything he tells her to do. The captain is portrayed in a way that could be seen as not completely evil, however the fact that he takes advantage of his power in this way makes him just as bad as any other rapist in that camp.
The ending to the movie is another smart choice by Juanita Wilson because it shows that the suffering goes beyond liberation from the camp. Samira will forever see the pain she went through when she looks at her child, and will forever be reminded of who the father was. There is no end to suffering no matter how physically free these survivors are.
Review of As If I Am Not There
