Review of Death in Sarajevo

One person in the name of hate, has brought about more than one major war. From World War I to the recent genocide, the Balkans have their fair share of such malevolent individuals. This specter of history and hatred is on display in the modern day Hotel Europa of Sarajevo as a European Union delegation arrives, an unhappy and unpaid hotel workforce prepares to strike, and a network broadcasts a heated political discussion from the roof of the building. Sparks fly between different factions on personal, regional and global levels. Instead of helping others, they do everything to make each other's lives miserable. The hotel owner, unable to pay bills, turns to darker elements within himself as well as the hotel, to try to maintain order. People treat each other as objects to use for their own selfish goals. Violence has been with the region for so long, yet can they find a way beyond it?

Death in Sarajevo includes some fascinating conversations and differing views on the Balkans from the World War One assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife, to the present day. This local perspective on such conflicts, in the native tongue, is not something that is readily available in North America, or even on the world wide web, so it is all the more valuable here. The acting, plot and settings are limited and restrained, yet the subject of the story makes up for these absences. Seen at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. Prizewinner at Berlin Film Festival.