As If I Am Not There review

A fresh look at the horrors of Sarajevo

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A young teacher from Sarajevo is caught up in the horrors of ethnic cleansing during the ’90s war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in this powerful debut from Irish director Juanita Wilson.

Imprisoned at a makeshift detention camp, Samira (Natasha Petrovic) is gang-raped by her captors before coming under the ‘protection’ of a commanding officer (Fedja Stukan).

Unconcerned with wider politics, Wilson deftly uses cinematic means – widescreen framing, sound, focus, PO V – to convey her protagonist’s ordeal, eliciting exceptional acting from Macedonian newcomer Petrovic.