GO WEST

Bosnia, 2005, 97 minutes, Colour.
Mario Demarc, Tarik Filipovic, Rade, Serbedzija, Jeanne Moreau.
Directed by Ahmed Imamovic.

Go West is a film from Bosnia Herzogovina, Croatia. It is an impassioned film, made by a young director, Ahmed Imamobic who studied philosophy as well as film direction at the University of Sarajevo. He also worked as an assistant for Michael Winterbottom in the 1996 Welcome to Sarajevo.

The setting is the early 1990s with the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the beginning of the civil wars. Milan is a student, a Serb living in Sarajevo who is in a homosexual relationship with a Muslim cellist, Kenan. When the situation becomes desperate in the city, they decide to move back to Milan’s home. Kenan runs the risk of being discovered on the train where Muslim men are taken away brutally. Milan has the idea of disguising Kenan as a woman. When they return to Milan’s village, his best friend realises what has happened. However, his father, glad to see him, hopes that there will be a wedding.

When Milan goes off to the war, Kenan survives in the village and is able to carry off the impersonation. However, a waitress in the local café, Ranka, who has a strange son wandering the town pretending to be a soldier, discovers the secret and wants to begin an affair with Kenan. The villagers are suspicious of her, treating her as a witch. Also in the village is a crippled priest who preaches hate during his religious celebrations.

The film stars veteran Yugoslav actor Rade Serbedzija as the father. Jeanne Moreau, who also helped finance the film, appears at the end of the film as a television interviewer, talking with Kenan who tells his story to the television audience.

The film is a reminder of the passionate nature of the people from the different countries of the Balkan Peninsula, the impassioned war and its brutality. It is also a plea for tolerance for Muslims. It is also a plea for understanding of homosexual partners.

1. A portrait of the Balkans in the 1990s? The outbreak of civil war? The portrait of Serbs, Bosnians, Muslims, Orthodox? In retrospect? The picture of war? The religious aspects, culture, sexual identity? Prejudices?

2. The anti-Serb feeling of the film – yet the father blaming all the citizens of the Balkans for the war?

3. The picture of Bosnia, the locations, Sarajevo, the concerts and apartments? The open roads, the remoteness, the village, the ugly scarred countryside, the destruction of homes? The mountains? Life in the remote areas? The musical score – classic, contemporary?

4. The title, the dreams of escape, fulfilment in the west?

5. The framework, the television interview with Kenan? The visual of the screen, his answering questions, the voice-over throughout the film, his comments, self-analysis? The end with Jeanne Moreau interviewing him, his miming the playing of music, her saying she couldn't hear it, his saying he should have played louder? The father’s comments about arts, and the arts transcending war?

6. The homosexuality issue, in Bosnia, in Sarajevo, private lives? The difference with family, keeping secrets, Kenan and his being disguised, accepted in the village, his not feeling at home in his disguise, gradually changing, the feeling of the need to escape?

7. Kenan as pianist, performance, a concert for peace? Milan and his martial arts and his not being there? The quarrel, resolving their difficulties? The decision to escape, to go to Milan’s home village? The train ride, the round-up of the Muslims, the device of disguising Kenan as a woman?

8. Travelling to the village, the father and his delight, the welcome, life in the village? Milan’s friend, like a brother, his knowing the truth, yet wanting to help, getting the photos, the documents? The celebrations in the village, the religious services, the bigoted priest? The fact that the inhabitants had destroyed the Muslim village, killed the Muslims? Kenan and his feeling as a Muslim in this context?

9. Ranke, her work at the bar, her being considered a witch, the boy and his being her son, Muslim father, his Serb uniform, his holding people up, wanting the password? Ranke and her sexual appetite, her attraction towards Milan, the incident and the fire, discovering that Kenan was a man, the sexual encounters, her handling the truth? The pathos of her death?

10. The relationship between Kenan and Milan, hiding, in the village, the preparations for the wedding and the celebration? Milan and his reaction to Kenan and Ranke? His going off to war, the casual approach to war, his death and the grief at his return?

11. The father, the grief, his interrupting the sermon, his attack on the bigoted priest? The priest and his having no legs, the woman transporting him, the chair-lift? His being helpless yet still speaking out, venomous bigotry?

12. The escape, the father giving his blessing, the friend helping? Kenan and his being able to go west?

13. The film’s portrait of war, the Balkan war in particular, the futility of war, many playing games but discovering the truth? Death? The religious and cultural bigotry and the long traditions? Going west as a way of getting away from all of this?