Director’s
Statement
If you are looking for a film to help explain the complex
history of the Balkans, Crucible of War may disappoint you. It contains no interviews with politicians,
journalists or historical scholars. If you are
looking for another piece of documentation of the horror of modern-day concentration
camps, rapes, and mass graves in the heart of
What I wanted to do with this film was to tell a simple story: how do ordinary people deal with their emotions after war has been replaced by peace. Can the human spirit be rebuilt in the same way that the houses and infrastructure was being rebuilt? I soon realized this “simple story” was quite complex.
I had originally wanted to show this
complexity as an observer. These people would
tell their own stories. I never intended to be
a character or make a film about returning “home.”
I had lived in the
During production, I realized that my scars of war are as deep as those of the people I was interviewing. By talking to these people, I became more aware of the part that fear plays in war. I had never thought about this before. As I was interviewing these people and returning to places I had known during the war, I realized that I am bound to this place and these people in more ways than just my roots.
It was a real lesson for me to meet all of these people. I wanted to share that lesson with others, especially those of us who once believed that fear and horror only happens somewhere else and could never hit home.