Children of Sarajevo

Aida Begic’s Children Of Sarajevo is a passionately stark story of the strength of family, driven by an intense sense of honour and compassion, as a young woman who has found strength in her religion tries to help her younger brother, who had previously lived in an orphanage… [The] drive of the film is the inner strength and determination that sees 23-year-old Rahima (an excellent Marija Pikic) doing all she can—and against all the odds—to try and keep what remains of her family together.

Rahima and her 14-year-old brother Nedim (Ismir Gagula) live a low-key life in a simple flat in Sarajevo… She works in the kitchen of a Sarajevo restaurant, retaining a polite and non-confrontational presence, but finds things slowly spiralling out of control when she is called to Nedim’s school after he gets into a fight with the son of a prominent government official… The incident leads her to find out that her brother is dabbling on the edge of criminal activities, but she is determined that he should try and escape that life. Her inner strength begins to come to the fore…

Marija Pikic is striking as the haunted Rahima. The camera is often placed just behind her shoulder and follows her through the bleak war-torn streets of Sarajevo as she strides with a sense of purpose, barely reacting to the happenings around her… The story is intercut with news footage from the Bosnian war—not exploitative or overly dramatic, but of scenes of groups of children playing, singing and trying to lead as normal a life as possible…—Mark Adams, Screen