Larmes de sang

When mortal humans take the courage to sit face to face with the 'Goddess of War' and to see that which should remain unseen, and to speak for that, that is forbidden, then consciously face the condemnation. Such is Ema Berisha, the journalist from Kosova, the protagonist of the film 'ANATHEMA', The heroine at war and the hateful traitor in freedom. The war of Kosova, projected as a war principally against the civil population, part of which was Ema Berisha, has taken place far away from the eyes of the world, far away from the eyes of the mediums. In front of the 'blind spectator' to whom it was served only the fancy of that, that really happened. The events had been circulated from mouth-to-mouth, from family to families, from village to villages. And somewhere among the mud roads of the postwar Kosova, the dramatic events were hidden or disappeared completely from the collective's memory. In this manner was hidden the destiny of Ema Berisha and thousands of raped women as a sign of revenge. Without their blame, it was hidden the destiny of thousands of destroyed life's. While treating the destiny of the raped woman, this subject with such sensibility, face to one patriarchal mentality, in spite of that, the film 'ANATHEMA' does not claim to change the world or to save the human being, but speaking about that, that is forbidden to be spoken unfolding that, that dare not to be seen pretends to offer an alternative more encouraging and more human.

Despite the fact Anatema is obviously a non-professional and mostly amateur production, if you are able to bear the terrible acting of the first 15 minutes, you´ll find out this film tells a painful story that depicts pretty well the horrors of the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and the misguided actions of NATO and the UN. To anyone interested on how mean human beings could be to each other, if we are given the chance, watching this movie would be a must; because this is the kind of cinema that reminds us Walter Benjamin´s quote: "There is no document of culture that is not at the same time a document of barbarism".

I just watched this film on the Internet hoping for some insight on the Balkan conflict. I remember the debate in the U.S. when the talk of NATO intervention began and didn't understand the complexity of the conflict then (despite trying to follow the major news coverage). I still don't. I hoped watching this non-U.S. film would be informative. It is a low budget film. The early section does seem like propaganda. Serbs are portrayed only as villains and never victims - often in very melodramatic scenes. War crimes were committed, but they occurred on all sides with victims of all ethnic groups. This is not addressed. The movie does get better in showing the post-war aftermath. I think this is because the character of Ema is sympathetic and her countrymen are shown in a more realistic way. Some are helpful despite their own suffering; some are openly antagonistic; some are corrupt and opportunistic in the post-war chaos. I think this would be true of any nation in a similar situation. This is not the objective film I wanted, but it did give me some insight into the feelings of one side of the conflict. I don't think it deserves a 10, but neither does it lack any merit as a commentary on the war and it's aftermath.

History and politics aside, Anatema stinks. I saw this at a film festival a couple of years ago and remember it as probably the most grueling movie-going experience of my life. Anatema is one of those self-righteous duds that seeks to dictate to you exactly how you're supposed to feel about everything. If it wants you to feel outraged and saddened (which it usually does), it shows you a row of orphaned girls crying on cue, etc, etc.

Anatema was bad, beyond bad, so relentlessly depressing and tasteless it brought tears to my eyes. I sat miserably, stupefied, twitching and sweating with the effort of stifling my giggles. I didn't know whether to laugh out loud or slash my wrists, and the only reason I didn't run screaming out of the theater is that some person connected with the production was in attendance, and I didn't want to humiliate him.

If you feel passionately about the atrocities depicted in Anatema, you should abhor this film for trivializing the subject, turning it into an unwatchable exercise in cheapjack manipulative propaganda.

This is genuinely, and I'm not exaggerating, the worst film I have ever seen. Because of the seriousness of the topic, it can't be a The Room "so bad it's good" type of film. This horrible monstrosity is offensive to me as a film student and as a Kosovo Albanian simultaneously. I simply wish it had never been made.