...Sarajevo Roses moves through the story of not only the city's siege but the entire labyrinth of the Bosnian crisis as if the film itself were being pursued by snipers. Director Roger Richards--a critically acclaimed AP photographer--created the film over almost a quarter of a century, and by doing so the story takes on an almost Opera-esque quality. Films done by photographers can get lost in the cloud sequences, so to speak, but Richards sprints us through alleys, under bridges and into bombed-out buildings in such a way that the poetry never replaces what was a horrific event--one that targeted anyone the Serbs caught in their cross-hairs.
Like Alice in Wonderland in reverse, Richards pops us out of those dark memories with sadly-beautiful stories of those who remain--survivors of an orphanage, a musician who once played for an audience of bullets, doctors who were then interns and finally, an impossible-to-forget sequence that will remain anonymous until you see it. It is impossible to call a film about genocide lyrical, but Richards has captured the resilience of a people who would not allow themselves to be extinguished. In Richards film their lives now mark one of the darkest moments of our time, like living imprints of the "Sarajevo Roses" for which the film is named.
Like Alice in Wonderland in reverse, Richards pops us out of those dark memories with sadly-beautiful stories of those who remain--survivors of an orphanage, a musician who once played for an audience of bullets, doctors who were then interns and finally, an impossible-to-forget sequence that will remain anonymous until you see it. It is impossible to call a film about genocide lyrical, but Richards has captured the resilience of a people who would not allow themselves to be extinguished. In Richards film their lives now mark one of the darkest moments of our time, like living imprints of the "Sarajevo Roses" for which the film is named.
