Mabel Munoz
Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
Shadowplayed
This is a film inspired by actual events and has indeed closely followed the 'real'story of a feral child found somewhere in rural Bosnia. A child is found living among wolves, nobody knew who he is, his name, family, background. He could have wandered off and gotten lost never to be found, he could have been left there, who knows. Anyway, the child is sent to Belgrade, Serbia (1988 it was still Yugoslavia) to be examined and placed him into orphanage.He even got a name – a Muslim name, Haris (cause that part of Bosnia is mostly populated by Muslims) and this seemingly tiny and unimportant detail will somewhat determine his faith.Haris does not seem to walk, talk or understand language, he acts like a wolf and keeps to himself, pretty much isolated from other kids. The teachers at the institution try to reach out and get through him, with little success. But an older boy, Zika grows interested in poor Haris and starts tutoring and protecting him from other children's cruel jokes.Big portion of film is dedicated to his time spent at the orphanage, following his progress and relationships with Zika and the rest of the local kids… Haris (nick-named Pucke) gets really attached to older boy, but the boy is troubled, with abusive parent and pretty much in 'n out of the orphanage. Zika's faith will pretty much mean a big turning point for Haris, who goes through big change, socializes as much as possible in a couple of year's span, while he was there.But, something changes and interrupts Pucke's progress. The civil was breaks in former Yugoslavia, war in Bosnia – and Haris gets called to come back to the place where he was found. What's more, some orphans who lost their homes, a Bosnian Serbs, now immigrants are sent to Haris' orphanage. And having heard his name, they developed and instant pick on him, cause he is 'enemy'. He is Bosnian citizen and need be back home…so authorities in Serbia had no other choice but to get him 'shipped' out.Drama is very slow building at first, as we follow this 10-12 year old boy though his difficult socialization, much screen time is used to depict the orphanage and its hierarchy. Production and cinematography are excellent, as are the roles, especially young Denis Muric (Haris) who shines in a demanding part in which he doesn't speak much but his body language is exquisite. His face shows every complicated emotion the role demands and more… very talented young actor.As you can imagine, with all things said here, and some left to find out yourselves, this is not a happy tale, cause there's a lot of grief, loss and not enough sense of belonging, no friends, no family for the protagonist of this film.No One's Child could have easily slipped into preachiness, sappiness, etc. It's nothing of the sort. It uses a peculiar feral child story and places it into many contexts, a war context being the most hard hitting of them all. Unfortunately, sometimes you're better off society and people. Especially those who call the shots in a sad and messed up world.
Nadia Talas
No One' s Child, the debut film of director Vuk Rsumovic is a vivacious film based on a true story. When I read the original story the film was based on; I was immediately struck by its strangeness and drawn to go watch the film. It is about a boy who was found in the woods in 1988 (in former Yugoslavia) by hunters in the federal republic Bosnia and Herzegovina. The boy had (based on his reaction and physical appearance) never been in contact with other human beings and had adopted animal behavior which led people to believe he was raised by wolves. Being pulled into society, it took him a very long time to adapt to a civilized life in Belgrade where he was brought to an orphanage. All the different emotions; the boy's wild nature, fear of the sudden unknown situation, despair and longing for his home (in the woods), and sometimes curiosity for this new surrounding were incredibly well performed by young Serbian actor Denis Muric. He had to rely for a big "chunk" of the film solely on his eyes, facial expressions and body language to bring these not everyday emotions across. Rarely have I seen such a natural young talented actor. Not for a moment was his role exaggerated, pathetic, overtly aggressive or dramatically affective. Vuk Rsumovic with his excellent choice for the leading actor has managed to realistically portray what a wolf boy would look like and act when he would be thrown straight from the woods into society. The first part of the film is very universal in terms of life circumstances it portrays surrounding the life of children in orphanages and social themes of the feeling of being abandoned paired with loneliness as a consequence, as well as the beautiful children's traits of naiveness, goodness, hope but also their very vulnerable condition because of their young age (adults should be careful of) that makes them breakable and receptive for life-changing experiences. I was not expecting that the film would later on also show the contextual circumstances of life in the Balkans and the turbulent developments and war at the beginning of the nineties. It is exactly this film that shows at a micro level what a turmoil the war brought in an absurd manner. The randomly picked (muslim) name the boy was given (since no data of him was known) became a new obstacle in his life, whereas in 1988 when he just arrived to Serbia it seemed to have not made any difference. The way this boy had gotten his name and later on his apparent cluelessness about the ethnic/national division demonstrate the meaninglessness of it all. This compelling multi-layered film combines universal themes with an underlying critique to the history of the nineties in the Balkans in a subtle manner which makes the film open for potential deeper interpretations and challenging to watch. I am really looking forward to future works of Vuk Rsumovic! Brilliant debut!
