The war in Bosnia seems distant, but when I visited Bosnia Herzegovina last year, it felt close to the surface. Last week, I went to the screening of a film, Back to Bosnia, made by a young Bosnian-American filmmaker about her familys return to Banja Luka to reclaim property they lost in the war. The screening was sponsored by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson for the Third Annual Bosnian Womens Day event on Capitol Hill.
It was a heartbreaking movie, especially scenes wherethe family confronted those who now lived in their apartment, and it made the personal, gritty interactions of a post-war situation real. It was also eerie to me to see some shots of Banka Luka, a place where Id gone with the US Embassy in Bosnia to talk with women about strategies for political involvement and advocacy.
Back to Bosnia isn’tan easy movie to watch, but then again,it shouldnt be.