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.