Twice Born

Gemma returns to Sarajevo years later with her son. She lived in the city before the war, met an American photographer called Diego there and married him. They could not have a child. When the siege began she found a way and her son was born. Now the boy is sixteen and the story his mother has told him is incomplete. The subject is not the war but how a child came into the world being concealed. The revelation at the end rebuilds the whole narrative and shows the reason for the silence Gemma has carried for years. The form moves between two times: Sarajevo under siege and the city today. The war sections were shot on a large scale, and the street fighting and sniper sequences carry the weight of the story. The source is Margaret Mazzantini's novel; she is the director's wife and they wrote the screenplay together. The book had sold heavily in Italy and its story was known. Its most criticised aspect is the point of view: the siege is largely narrated through the experience of an Italian woman and the Bosnian characters stay at the edges. The film does not answer that objection. Penélope Cruz plays Gemma, Emile Hirsch plays Diego and Adnan Hasković a local character. Sergio Castellitto directs. Who it is for: viewers who like post-war family drama. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the Bosnian war at the centre; the film uses it as the background to a love story.