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Prozivanje Duhova (Calling the Ghosts)


In the beginning of Calling the Ghosts (a film about the genocidal camps during the Balkan War of 1995), a woman asks, "If I stay silent, how moral would that be?"

Without going into great detail about the use of gender-based violence to enforce eugenics during this war-time, the opening of said film begs the question: Why is an acknowledgment of past trauma so difficult? Further than that, how does one articulate the effects of trauma as it relates to cultural identity?

Recalling those instances brings back the re-memory of the physical anguish (the term "rememory" made known in Toni Morrison's literature) and mental strife it had and continues to have upon the body.

Because this story was so engrossing, instead of writing a linear review, I'd rather present it in fragmented poetry form:

A Camp, they called it, but more like a prison.
Muslim and Croat intellectuals were the first victims.
There were business offices with blood around it, ordered to be cleaned by the soldiers.
She told us that men covered their chest by tightening grip on shirts to conceal wounds "for us".
She Remembers the screams
Now I'm remembering her remembering the screams.
There was an unspoken rule to not talk to each other about what happened.
How could it have happened when denials were a part of the map
Karadzic´ denied the existence of rape camps.
Soldiers and administration in charge of the premises ,of course, Lied to journalists.
To create the façade, they released women or hid away their presence.
In bathrooms they would hide
only to be late at night terrorized.
The reason why it was difficult to speak out against the atrocities
Is because "Rape" is still believed to be derogatory
and victims were/are to blame for its unwanted debauchery
In the end, a neutral ally came to the rescue
The Norwegian government organized a bus to go to Croatia for refugees.
That is where the women finally found their "freedom".

 Jadranka's (the main character in this film) revenge was collecting testimonies, restlessly. Jadranka began to work as a data collector at the Croatian Information center. The hatred began to subside and she took on the role of a confessor. The crimes had not been filmed by a camera which is why their memories are so important. In the end, Jadranka and her son are seen going to the Hague, but I wonder who protected them after the tribunals?

This film was intense and beautiful ( though I feel reluctant to state the latter) . The main character's resolution was her pursuit of justice for a most atrocious crime. We need not only a Tribunal to award us the space for these atrocities to be showcased and reprimanded, but also an establishment of safe-spaces to share personal experiences and decrease the stigma of being a victim of rape when it is NEVER anyone's fault to be such a victim. Only through this sort of progress can we emerge from the depths of our fear, of our shame.

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