Film Festivals
CIRKUS COLUMBIA – SLIFF Review
Review by Dana Jung
Ten years ago, director Danis Tanovic won nearly every major film award worldwide (including Golden Globe and Academy Awards) for his exceptional anti-war film NO MAN’S LAND. Using the Bosnian/Serbian conflict in Herzegovina as a backdrop, NO MAN’S LAND used tension, humor, satire, and excellent performances to set a new tone for war films. It has influenced nearly every war film since, most notably another Oscar-winner, THE HURT LOCKER
Now, in only his fourth feature film, Tanovic has returned to this incredibly tragic setting to tell another story with an anti-war theme. However, this one’s message is more oblique and unsettling, because it reminds us that war isn’t just about armies and politicians or beliefs and bureaucracies. It is also — maybe most importantly – about families.
Divko is a middle-aged man who has returned to his hometown after 20 years, and he has returned with gusto. He has money, influence, and a younger redheaded — and smoking hot — girlfriend. His first action upon returning is to throw his estranged wife Lucija and son Martin out of his family home. He relishes being back in his family homestead and sort of reliving his younger days, even visiting the nearby carnival (the circus of the title). It soon becomes clear, from his obsession with his pet cat to his cold treatment of his girlfriend, that Divko has more on his mind than simply reclaiming his heritage.
All the performances are uniformly excellent. The only face familiar to US audiences is Mira Furlan, who plays the embittered Lucija. The Yugoslav actress has appeared in many American TV shows, including recurring roles in BABYLON 5 and in LOST, as the unbalanced island inhabitant Danielle Rousseau.
Tanovic mixes this central story well with a coming-of-age theme and the dangers still present in Herzegovina, at times with a somewhat lighter touch. American audiences may have trouble deciphering all the cultural and political differences that drive the various plot lines of CIRKUS COLUMBIA, but it doesn’t really matter. The ongoing struggles in this region of the world are simply something Tanovic is familiar with, and he is adept at using this background to illustrate the destructive effects of the conflict.
Families torn apart by war is not a new theme, but here the more subtle themes of political coercion and erosion of trust become important elements. War takes its toll, and the actions of the family members seem extreme at times because, as one character puts it, “We’re all a little insane.” Tanovic mixes these characters deftly, slowly revealing how the events of the past have shaped the family relationships that ultimately bring the movie to its satisfying conclusion.
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