STURM/STORM
Germany, 2009, 110 minutes, Colour.
Kerry Fox, Anamaria Marinca, Stephen Dillane, Rolf Lassgard.
Directed by Hans-Christian? Schmid.
Topical, tense, alarming. And winner of the Amnesty International award.
The Balkan wars of the 1990s (repeats of centuries-long conflicts and heightened in the 20th century with the breaking up of the former Yugoslavia and the demands of independence) took their toll in the Balkan Peninsula and beyond Europe to further parts of the world like Australia where Serbs and Croats and others had migrated, their wars migrating with them.
Wounds may have seemed to have been healed but the scars need only to be scratched.
The United Nations established the International Court in The Hague to investigate war crimes. President of Serbia, Slobodan Milosevich, died before his trial was completed. As production began on Storm in August 2008, Radhovan Karetich of Bosnia was apprehended and extradited to The Hague.
Storm is definitely topical.
The film opens with a happy family playing on a Spanish beach. But, the father is soon apprehended and arrested. He is Bosnian Serb, General Duric. Three years later, his trial is under way and the legal teams, prosecution, defence, investigators, administrators, judges are working on the final phase of the trial only to have hopes of a conviction dashed because of faulty evidence, the falsity verified by the court visiting the site of the alleged incident and Duric's guilt.
The new prosecutor, tough in her manner, legal know-how and justice idealism, Hannah Maynard (Kerry Fox) who may be resenting her not being promoted of colleague, Keith (Stephen Dillane) goes into court and finds her case collapsing. At the same time she is in a relationship with a top-ranking negotiator for the Balkan countries to enter the European Union. She is a determined woman and her shrewdness leads her on an investigation of her witness' sister and the name of a remote place visited by the witness. Now a luxury hotel, it was a government owned facility, and the new owner uses strong arm tactics on her and the sister to convince her and the UN officials not to investigate.
Storm works on many levels. The human drama of Hannah's interactions with the sister, Mira (Anamaria Marinca) and Mira's being subjected to violent harassment ensures an emotional involvement. The political drama of how the court works, the compromises, the influence of broader factors (applications to join the EU and economic considerations) complicate the human drama.
The justice drama of courts hamstrung by legal minutiae and deals will probably affect those who take matters personally while those of a more objective perspective will be persuaded by 'bigger picture' arguments.
Filmed in Bosnia, Berlin and The Hague, the film looks and sounds authentic. It also means that these stories need telling and telling widely.
Director Hans-Christian Schmid made Requiem, the story of the Bavarian girl possessed by the devil in 1976 and her exorcism process.
1.A topical film, the 20th century wars, the 21st century trials, the 21st century war against terror?
2.The Balkans and audience knowledge, interest? The former Yugoslavia, the break-up? Centuries-old clashes, wars, ethnic differences, ethnic cleansing, atrocities?
3.The United Nations, setting up the international courts? The cases, the charges, the judges and lawyers, the witnesses? Learning how to administer this kind of justice? Justice to be seen? Compromises and deals, political and economic? The European Union?
4.The prologue, the family on the beach, Spain, the father playing with his daughters, the wife, going to the supermarket, their being followed, the armed intrusion and arrest in the house? General Duric and his role in the Balkans?
5.The focus on the Hague, the visuals of the building for the court, the city, interiors in the courts, offices? The judges? The interrogation rooms? The witness, the prayer, his testimony, powerful? The defence and the critique about the bus? The court having to go to the Balkans to visit the site, the testing of the parking of the bus? Hannah Maynard and her anger? The witness, his motivation, killing himself?
6.Hannah in herself, her career, not getting the promotion? Her interchanges with Keith Haywood, his being in charge? Patrick and his research? Her attitude towards him and his thoroughness, idealism? The case itself, the witness and his death? Hannah and her relationship with the negotiator for the European Union? The affair? The European Union links?
7.Hannah and her getting more information, the witness’s visits before he came to the court, going to visit his sister, Mira? Hostility, her family, the photos? Going to the hotel, checking with the local authorities about its history, the owner and his threats? The explanation of the photos taken of Hannah and Mira? The physical attack on Mira? Hannah and her waiting at the airport, Patrick returning to the Hague? Mira making contact?
8.Mira, her relationship with her family, her brother, the past? The transition to Germany, marrying, having a son? The physical attack on her? Issues of safety? Talking to Hannah? The experience, the arrest? The memories of the hotel, the torture and rape? Suddenly finding the soldiers gone? Testifying that Duric was in command?
9.Keith and his reaction, the judge and witnesses, the timing, going to the defence lawyer and the discussion? The guilty plea to taking orders? The deal? Silencing Mira?
10.The Serbs, their power, the list of influential men, the money, their rightist attitudes, believing in violence, going to the Hague, the graffiti on the car, terrorising Mira’s husband and son?
11.Mira and her taking her son to the Hague, in the hotel, on the beach, security, the meeting with her husband, his support?
12.Patrick, the research, the consequences of the deal, his leaving?
13.The defence lawyer, doing deals?
14.Hannah, seeing her lover with the defence lawyer and the accused, his role in the deal, economic interests and Serbia joining the European Union?
15.Hannah and Mira, being hard, tough, yet her compassion, the questions in the court, Mira being able to tell her story? Hannah running the risk of being barred from the courts?
16.The verdict, enough or not enough?
17.Hannah as the centre of the film, a strong woman, hard, principles, emotional, her career? The comparisons with Mira, what she had experienced, her fears, building a new life, testimony and truth?
18.The importance of for 20th century considerations of law and justice, truth, the role of compromise?
