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