Zala Volcic lecture

Listening to Zala's stories and discussion of Bosnia and Hercegovina helped put into perspective of how chaotic these environments truly are. I was astounded when she began to talk about the lack of representation of these events in the media, and how much these disputes are constantly overlooked. I also found it fascinating that she had to escape this world in order to be where she is today. Although her explanations were a bit fast pace to keep up with, she did an excellent job of providing enough context to explain why these conflicts are happening the way they are. Everyone in class had great questions and things to add to the discussion that would often diverge the lecture into equally interesting topics, as is typical in every lecture we have had so far. One point that I found to be especially enlightening was her attitude towards dealing with history, that if you don't confront it, it will haunt you later in life. I found this particular bit of insight to be extremely relevant to the way things have been handled throughout history across different cultures. It's not exclusive to any one country, but every nation has something they hide and be embarrassed of.

For Those Who Can Tell No Tales deals with this very issue. The main character travels to Bosnia, and uncovers the country's traumatic history that is largely ignored by the country's inhabitants. This introduced the ethical issue of what are nations supposed to do in order to move on from their dark past. In this film, the Australian tries to confront it by acknowledging the atrocities committed in the past, although I contemplate whether this really solves anything in the end.

I personally thought this film had great intentions in shedding light on issues that need to be exposed, issues that continue to be buried by the media. However, I have to say it was quite a strenuous watch. I was not able to fully empathize with the character. Her motivation behind her trip was a bit unclear to me, and her intense reaction to the Bosnian people was a bit too much for me. Watching a 1st world traveler experience the 3rd world was difficult for me to understand her concerns, since she is dealing with a world that she was never a part of. I do like the idea of her being an outside perspective, but overall I felt she was absurdly too affected but this nation's history.
I think I would have enjoyed the film more if there was something more captivating to carry on the narrative.

- Ryan

Guest Lecture

I found Zala’s lecture extremely informative as well as eye-opening to some of the less talked about issues in Europe. I personally struggled to really engage with the main character in the film For Those who can Tell No Tales.  I think it was perhaps due to the fact she was a tourist and I could not really see the motivation behind her interest in the violent history Bosnia and Herzegovina. Zala’s lecture helped to make the issue more relevant because of her personal connection to it. She was not merely a tourist or a researcher but someone who fled from the war in 1994.

            I found the background on the region that she gave during the lecture helpful in understanding the cultural dynamics that was going on.  The fact that a Yugoslav language was created out of Slavic languages for unification purposes is a fascinating fact as it sheds light on how very different cultures were forced together and the tensions underlying the surface that remained.  After the war happened, people wanted to go back to the “pure” languages.

            Her description of these conflicts as cyclical in nature was the point she made that I found the most powerful. Her argument was that when these issues are not dealt with the first time but rather forgotten about or disregarded, they are certain to happen again. The tensions that erupted into war were a result of past issues not being addressed. I mentioned in class that I saw a lot of similarities between the denials of what had happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina to the denial of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey. There is a great amount of denial and everyone blames the other party. While I was in Turkey, I spoke to several Turks who vehemently denied that the genocide had ever occurred. They had been taught throughout their whole life in school and at home that the genocide never happened. They even blamed the Armenians. Only one person, a minority himself of Kurdish descent, told me that he believed it had happened and that the government was denying it. Zala said that similar denial tactics are being used in the Yugoslav region as textbooks tell extremely slanted versions of history and many facts are left out depending on which story is being told.

            Another interesting point she brought up was how this war was the first time that journalists were accused of symbolic violence. She said that it was not because it was the first time it had happened, as throughout history many filmmakers and journalists have aided war causes like Riefenstahl aiding Hitler, but rather it was a change in international law, which allowed them to be tried for it as a crime. She also spoke on how war rapes were recognized as war crimes for the first time in this war was well. This was a result of women working hard to get the international court to recognize the crimes. This was a result of both the events in Rwanda and Bosnia. Forced impregnation was a part of the strategic ethnic cleansing that was going on during the war. 

Guest Speaker and 'For Those Who Can Tell No Tales'

It was wonderful meeting our guest speaker Zala. She was incredibly kind and I took pleasure in everything she had to say. I learned a lot about Bosnia and its current state of affairs. I feel as though it benefited me in a way that forced me to see the world differently. Nonetheless, I feel very fortunate to grow up in a democratic nation. Although I've briefly heard about the civil war and lingering affairs that surrounded Bosnia when I was little, I never realized the magnitude of its complications. After listening about its history and on going political and national quarrel I had a hard time grasping its circumstance. Upon hearing about the mass rapes and genocide that the governing party at the time had participated in, I was disgusted and bewildered given our worlds modernity. Although I believe that stuff like this continues to exist in some parts of the world today, the subject is never easy to discuss. It's one of those "Wow, that shit is crazy" moments and all you can ask your self is why. It’s an unfathomable topic that’s just unimaginable and incomprehensible to me. Upon hearing about Zala’s past and about her parents being journalist and risking their lives to document their country’s history and helping others from danger, it made me think about my life and how blessed I am. It’s stories like this that makes me feel so grateful of the people around me. For Those Who Can Tell No Tales on the other hand was a film that I was not particularly keen about. Given its subject matter , I thought the film portrayed a very powerful message to say the least. Though disturbing, the gorgeous and supple cinematography helped me view the film in an artistic way that allowed me to absorb its eerie nature. The fact that the Bosnian government is in denial of these wicked crimes disgusts me even further and identify them as cowards. But, since I believe the power of films and media are formidable and therefore pervasive, the victims will eventually get their story heard.

One Love.

A Survivor's Account - Zala and For Those Who Can Tell No Tales

Have you ever been eating eggs and suddenly realized, "Woah, this came out of a bird's vagina."

I had a similar realization during our discussion with Zala, "We are getting a history lesson from a first hand witness." Before you ask: yes, I weigh these as similarly shocking revelations.

AS a Critical Studies major, I am frequently subjected to experts whose knowledge is the result of a game of telephone - they learned their field from books written by experts who learned their field from books written by experts. There can be a certain inbreeding that makes some of the knowledge stale, dehumanized, theoretical and entirely intellectual.

Zala's account of the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina didn't allow for any loose academic analysis or circular self-congratulatory intellectualism. She had answers for us, real answers, and I found myself asking questions to which I was personally curious. "How does somebody kill their teacher?" "Where were the police?" "Where did people go if they didn't want to participate in this war?" And, most importantly to me, "How could a developed country with a diverse population devolve into this kind of madness?"

If there's anything I've learned in this class and during this semester (I've been reading a lot of accounts from Poland 1944 and Afghanistan/Iraq in the early 21st century) it's the fragility of civilization. Women could vote in Afghanistan in 1950, and today the Taliban has outlawed education for women. Germany was a European superpower that devolved into a genocidal dystopia. And Bosnia and Herzegovina were functioning countries, speaking a shared (albeit artificially developed) national language. Zala talks about escaping the country on her father's media bus with the ease, confidence, and detachment of an scholar, but I sensed that these decades-old historic events hold emotional significance for her . That recalling them was an act of bravery and generosity. And, having lived in incredibly safe and solid America my entire life, I felt intensely grateful to have access to her story and her humanity.

Her interview provided me a much needed emotional attachment to the otherwise dry and slowly paced "For Those Who Can Tell No Tales". I don't blame the film for my impatience. Zala, opposite to me, felt that film rushed through the story with accelerated pacing. The film also follows a less kinetic issue than the raping of hundreds of women and the massacring of thousands of people - it documents the silent aftermath of these war crimes. But as a busy student, and a detached American one at that, the film's quiet artful mourning process felt like an overwrought visit to a museum for me. I was ready to leave an hour in, feeling satisfactorily informed on the existence of an unacknowledged atrocity.

Zala's lecture added a new layer to my appreciation of the film, however. "For Those Who Can Tell No Tales" was released at festival for a Bosnian audience. The film was by no means meant for my eyes. It's an icebreaker for a national awkwardness, a calling out of an elephant in the Bosnian room. And for that purpose, its exploration of the issue is perhaps under-wrought if anything. To capture the shock from the eyes of the tourist - the outsider - may seem at first to undermine the facilitation of a domestic conversation, but if anything it eases the political tension by preventing any finger pointing by the relevant parties. An Australian tourist simply acknowledges that the issue exists - her emotions about it are irrelevant to the potential consequences of the film - the national dialogue that follows it.

Zala & For Those Who can Tell No Tales

The guest lecture by Zala was truly eye-opening. It is always difficult to connect with someone who is lecturing on a foreign concept. Be it physics, chemistry, or ancient history. In the case of Zala, her lecture was about the Bosnian genocide of the 90’s and obviously, the concept of genocide, let alone one that was so recent, is a rather foreign to a sheltered mind such as mine. However, she was a very gifted and knowledgeable speaker I was most definitely able to connect with her. Her lecture was both informative and heart-felt. Which is something that is not easily accomplished. What I liked most was her ability to weave in between academia and personal anecdote. Both perspectives were extremely fascinating and they accented each other well. While the main points of her lecture were regarding the media’s role in the crises at time, I found it extremely enlightening when she discussed some of the precursors to the war and the genocide. While I didn’t particularly enjoy the film For Those Who can Tell No Tales, I enjoyed Zala’s take on the role that media plays in a society. She illuminated to me the fact that more often than not, a nation does not like acknowledging its turbulent past. This is as true for the United States as it is for the European Union. Thus, for a film such as For Those Who can Tell No Tales, the main purpose of the film may be to start the conversation. That is arguably the most tangible thing art can accomplish and is thus, the most valuable.

Zala's Lecture and For Those Who Can Tell No Tales

To be honest, when I watched For Those Who Can Tell No Tales, I got the same feeling that I got when we watched Cache. I couldn't really connect with the main character, and I couldn't wholly grasp what was going on in the movie, since I had no knowledge about what happened in Bosnia during the 1990s.

Zala's lecture gave me detailed insights about the Bosnian War and how this has affected the nation until now. Furthermore, she also explained to us how movies like For Those Who Can Tell No Tales, and all forms of media, can help us understand each other and bridge the gap.
Although the war has ended on 1998, the war did not really end; people haven't forgiven each other, they still deny what they've done, and there is prevalent hatred until now.
Yes, it is important to let go of the past. But what's more important is that you have to deal with history openly. If you don't deal with it the right way, history will haunt you again and again. This discussion brought me to think of the situation in Korea, my country. I also shared this in class, but a lot of Korean women became the victims of war rape during the war with Japan. Although these were forced rape, until now, Japan is denying this fact and is calling the survivors of this horrible time in rape camps as voluntary prostitutes. How are these women, who still have nightmares about the past, supposed to move on after such a trauma? Are we doing at least what we can like what Kim does in the movie or are we just like the townspeople who is busy trying to hide the ugly truth? How do we deal with this history?

Zala mentioned how media was a powerful tool in creating tension within Yugoslavia. Because the unemployment rate was high and there was a lot of different nationalities within Yugoslavia, it was easy for people to blame the "others." The media is powerful enough to either bring people together or even tear them apart. She also mentioned that sometimes, there is a need for an outsider to get someone to acknowledge that there is a problem and that may well be Zbanic's For Those Who Can Tell No Tales. I really can't wait to see what the reactions would be like when the film actually goes public.

Anyways, I really enjoyed Zala's lecture and the discussion we had in class. Do you guys think that this film can break the silence?

Our Wonderful Guest Speaker

Last week a wonderful guest speaker, Mrs. Zala volcic was invited to our class to talk to us about the history and the hidden tragedies of after the war in 1990s that happened in Bosnia and Hercegovina. She wanted to break down the elements in the idea of people becoming "the other" and how they started to hate each other, get suspicious, and finally kill one other. She explained how the war started in 1991 and ended in 1998 but truly the war is still going on. People do not trust and accept each other and are in the denial of 1990s war. During 1992-1995 war reported between 20,000 and 50,000 victims. Rapes were carried out to humiliate or destroy the identity of a victim and sexual violence consisted as a weapon of war. By watching the movie the week before, we were able to nicely open up the discussion she was looking for. We all expressed our feelings and thoughts toward this movie which consisted of shock, anger, and mystery. We opened up the discussion to the role of Media in transforming people to "the other.” people started standing against each other. They started to get divided into groups based on different cultures and opinions about their city’s history and this was how “the other” was created amongst them. One of the questions we put on the table was that, can cinema bring us together when law fails to do so? The answer we came up with was that the role of media and cinema is crucial, it can tear people apart or it can bring people together. For example even though this movie will not attract a younger generation, it will be shown to a group of audience and will educate them about this problem. On the other hand, when another kind of media, Journalists, got involved in the reports of these situations in Bosnia, they were being accused of becoming the source of killing amongst the people; The journalist were accused of encouraging killing with their writings. Media plays a big role in our lives. It can almost be the source of a lot of information that we do not gain while watching the news. A lot of events, problems, tragedies, and celebrations that become stories and plot of movies, would have never reached people's eyes if it had never been made into a movie. Movies inform us about the world we live in and what is happening around us.  Our guest speaker mentioned that If we do not deal with the historical aspect of a country, the history itself will hunt us again; and that is what happened to Bosnia and the people of it. By denying and not confronting the problems that occurred after and during the war ( the rapes, the rape camp, and all the killing that happened on the bridge that people now a days walk on without acknowledge the tragedy that happened underneath their feet), the people and the city is still in the war with itself and its past history. People are not calm and satisfied. They fear from their own mankind and their place of birth.

Our guest speaker was very passionate about this topic and issue that it made the discussion table very much more exciting, engaging, and interesting. She was very kind and listened to everyone’s comments and opinions. She was so passionate about the subject and was very educated about the problem that it made me feel like she was the film maker of this movie. She listened to our opinions very carefully that it made us feel very special and our opinions very valuable. 

It was absolutely a great class, even though we missed our professor very much, but we would love to have Mrs. Zala volcic back for another wonderful discussion. 

Last Week

Zala was so fascinating to talk too. She was incredibly insightful and brought a very unique perspective to class concerning the landscape of collective guilt. Our discussion reminded me very much of bourgeois repression in Caché. Both films approach the subject of a voluntary national amnesia, resulting in further psychological isolation of the victim. However, For Those Who Tell No Tales deprives the audience of such images of violence, relying on the audience's imagination evoked by dark tourism. In Caché, Haneke provides very visceral imagery of an individual victim's trauma, while For Those never puts a face on the victim. Despite the films' contrasting methods, both conjure similar experiences for the audience - a haunting distance from the protagonist. We know very little of Georges nor Kym. This emotional isolation focuses the audience's attention on the potency of the subject. By denying the audience a vehicle of catharsis, both Haneke and Zbanic refuse to endorse an apologetic release. In this way, both films reject conclusion, suggesting the responsibility falls to the viewer to address the implications of guilt.

Therefore, the aim of films that seek to reveal a 'dark' history seems to be in directing blame. Yet pointing fingers never leads to social advancement. Thus, perhaps these films require interpretation within a wider context - that is; where do they lead us? What next? We have acknowledged the repressed content of history through this art form, how do we move forward? The progress comes in preventing history from repeating itself. Films become like historical landmarks, serving as a compelling reminder of the past.

I find the need for humans to grasp onto concrete memorabilia fascinating, yet flawed. Why do we not trust ourselves to remember the past? What do Kym's actions at the end of the film contribute or serve in the long term? Memorials serve little purpose besides making the intangible concrete. Our memories are volatile and subject to repression, but the physical reality must be solid and stable, correct? We do not trust ourselves to remember, but we do trust memorials to do the job for us. For example, in Berlin, the wall stands a tangible reminder of a horrid past. But in For Those, the hotel does not become a memorial. Indeed, the transformation of space to repress or commemorate the past retains the properties of memory, vulnerable to the same malleability. Thus, relying on memorials to do the work for you is not enough. You cannot simply acknowledge the past, as these films imply. Further steps must be taken, but what are these?