STP 2014 / Gabriela Filippi - Reflections
Sergei Loznitsa’s REFLECTIONS is one of the thirteen short films gathered in the omnibus BRIDGES OF SARAJEVO / LES PONTS DE SARAJEVO (2014). The project was coordinated by the film critic Jean-Michel Frodon and was meant to be released this year to commemorate one hundred years since the outbreak of World War I, which took as a pretext the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo. Still, BRIDGES OF SARAJEVO does not restrict itself to this historical moment but reflects on different aspects of last century’s events related to the capital of Bosnia which shaped Europe’s pathway.
In his segment, the Ukrainian director renounces the pretension of originality and brings to attention a very common sense – that suffering in troubled times and immense human sacrifice are too quickly forgotten in more prosperous times. But he does so in an efficient way that gives to this exception a renewed power.
The film is a collage of sounds, photographs, and filmed material that bring in the same dimension a distinct moment from Sarajevo’s turbulent past and its quiet present. The black and white images shot by cinematographer Oleg Mutu (known for his collaboration with Romanian New Wave directors) of the city’s streets on a sunny day are superimposed also with black and white portraits of men that fought in the Bosnian War photographed by Milomir Kovačević in 1992. From the foreground each of the now probably dead fighters gazes for a few seconds straight at the audience, and the black and white image sharpening his features makes his presence more acute. Simultaneously, the peaceful life of the present time unfolds behind him.
With REFLECTIONS Sergei Loznitsa shows once again his interest in history and politics, as well as the preference for some stylistic choices, which he developed in his previous documentaries: the non-narrative structure in THE SETTLEMENT / POSELENIE (2002) or LANDSCAPE / PEYZAZH (2003), the using of archive material in BLOCKADE / BLOKADA (2006), REVUE / PREDSTAVLENIE (2008). Besides, this film and his most recent feature documentary, MAIDAN (2014), shown also at the 20th Sarajevo Film Festival, rely on sound to bring new meaning to the scenes.
In this segment from BRIDGES OF SARAJEVO Loznitsa operates a rather symbolic selection of the aspects he shows from the present, giving us motives of everyday life (children playing, trams passing, tourists discovering the city), but repeatedly making references to motives of religious diversity – also the main cause for the conflict in the area.
Some might regard this schematically. Still, the artistry with which the different material is assembled is probably hard to deny. In this crafted network every element becomes evocative, and thus sounds and images from our quotidian become very expressive. Banal sounds – like those of the people’s steps while walking on the streets or like that of a flowing river – are vividly recalling the blessing of the normal life.