Halima's Path is a Bosnian-Croatian foreign language film focusing on the complications the Bosnian War has on the people in the region to the current day.
The film tackles many issues surrounding the war stricken region including cross-cultural hostilities, the role of United Nation governing bodies and family fragmentation from the splitting of Yugoslavia.
Synopsis
Halima's Path follows the story of Halima, an old woman living in a Muslim village in Western Bosnia searching for her husband's and son's remains after they were taken by Serbian paramilitary forces during the war after two decades.
The film tells her heartbreaking story going back and forth between memories of the genocide and the present day. In hopes of receiving closure, she hears of a UN committee using DNA analysis to identify skeletal remains of mass graves.
The remainder of the film focuses on Halima as she learns of what happened to her husband and teenage son long ago.
She discovers both haunting and unnerving details of how events unfolded two decades ago and how they relate to her life in the present day.
Important Themes
The division of Yugoslavia in the early 1990's remains to be one of the bloodiest events in recent history.
Yugoslavia split into 8 different countries including the likes of Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Vojvodina and Kosovo.
Much of the separation of borders was done along Muslim/Christian cultural lines, which led to thousands of mass killings of Bosnian Muslims.
As well as the creation of an ethnic cleansing campaign responsible for thousands of more cases of inhumane treatment, unlawful confinement, robbery, rape, sexual assault, torture, beating and murder.
To this day many still deny the genocide of thousands of Bosnians ever happened. And many refuse to acknowledge that it should be referred to as a genocide.
Despite an incredible amount of scientific evidence as well as an abundance of video footage a UN court in 2015 said Serbia and Croatia did not commit genocide during the war.
Thousands of people like the character Halima still do not know what happened to their loved ones as more and more mass graves are being found. Some of which are knowingly hidden by Serb and Croatian forces.
Conclusion
Halima's Path is an emotional journey through the effects of war and genocide.
The real success of the film is that it focuses on the intricacies of the Bosnian War without making the war the primary topic of the storyline. Rather it focusses on Halima and her relationship with her family, friends and her memories.
Halima's Path is a very touching film and shows the haunting history of the Balkan region. It sheds light on ongoing tensions as well as acknowledging the cultural divisions and hostilities that still remain today.
Halima's Path is a wonderful film following a real, heart-wrenching narrative full of promise and the importance of accountability.
