Aparat i narracje: narzędzia interwencji czy interpretacji? Filmowe obrazy wojny w byłej Jugosławii
Camera and narrations: instruments of intervention or interpretation? Movie images of war in former Yugoslavia

Summary/Abstract: This article is an attempt to analyze of images of war in former Yugoslavia. Author concentrates on meaning and status of camera (or movie camera) and narration in constructing these pictures. The object of author’s interest are feature films describing the next part of Balkan’s war conflict. Exceptional attention in this article is devoted to the issues of representation and heterogeneous origin of presented images. Author constructs two pairs of antagonistic concepts: intervention/influence and interpretation/understanding. Judith Butler’s main thesis contained in her book Frames of War. When Is Life Grievable? are recalled in this context. Thesis which are polemic with Susan Sontag’s opinions from her texts On Photography and Regarding the Pain of Others. Furthermore, author pays attention to documentary images, which are often used in feature films. Author classifies the war images in former Yugoslavia according to two criteria. The first one, is divided into films directed by artists from post-Yugoslavian countries and films made by directors from outside (mainly West-European origins). The second criterion is related to the extent of the realism the movie contains. Author supposes that movies from foreign directors are often reflection of European society’s guilt to passivity and inadequate involvement in prevention of massacres and ethnic purges. In this article a dozen movies has been analyzed and author particularly focuses on few of them, such as Warriors by Peter Kosminsky, Welcome to Sarajevo by Michael Winterbottom and Before the Rain by Milcho Manchevski.

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