Vukovar, 1 9 8 9. Croat girl Ana and Serb lad Tomo observe the fall of the Berlin Wall on TV. Some time later, they get married, but already ominously observe two protests on the streets: one for Yugoslavia, the other for Croatian independence. As the rise of Serb and Croat nationalism causes friction, Tomo is drafted and sent to the Yugoslav Army. In 1 9 9 1, the Croatian War of Independence and the Battle of Vukovar erupt. A pregnant Ana goes to live with her Croat parents, but their house gets destroyed in the war. Ana and Tomo briefly reunite, but then Ana hides with other people in the basement. She gives birth in an abandoned house. Two buses drive off two nations in two seperate directions: Ana and other Croats drive off towards Zagreb, while Tomo and other Serbs drive off towards Belgrade.
One of the rare movies about the Battle of Vukovar, the bloodiest episode from the Croatian War, Boro Draskovic's "Vukovar: A Story" is today remembered for its incredible decision to recreate the battle on location, just two years later. The viewers are not watching a movie set—they are watching the "real thing", the realism of post-war destruction and consequences of urbicide. Despite its controversies, the movie is overall surprisingly neutral and balanced—it doesn't depict the event through neither the perspective of Croatian politics nor Serb politics, but instead through the gaze of ordinary civilians whose idyll is ruined by chaos when they find themselves in the middle of god's war. The story about a Romeo & Juliet-style couple, Croat Ana and Serb Tomo, is banal, melodramatic and sometimes even pretentious (the line "The truth in one time era can become a delusion in the other"), yet it has enough honest anti-war observations and balance to deserve a recommendation. The battle starts some 45 minutes into the film, and it is depicted in an earnest manner, with several shocking, dark and depressing moments: a pregnant Ana and a woman are raped inside their house when burglars storm inside. Two Serb soldiers flip-flop on a seesaw overseeing the ruined city, shooting with machine guns in the sky, chanting: "We will build a better and older city!" Ana observing a tank crashing through the fence into her garden, shooting at the house. The leitmotiv of a white peacock that is a symbol of lost peace, noticeable when Ana observes a house burning, and the peacock flies away from it. Ana exiting the basement, only to open the door and spot fire in the city outside. There are several flaws, especially in the overabundance of archive footage of everything, yet the movie's tragic theme about how war destroys a community rings true, the actors deliver fine performances, whereas the final 3-minute aerial shot of the ruins of Vukovar is impressive and says everything.
Grade:++
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