The Srebenica Tape: Horrors of a past war revisited
VIEWERS have grown used to seeing the Storyville label on documentaries as a mark of quality, but this account of a daughter's quest to know more about her late father casts a special glow of its own.
The story starts as the Bosnian War begins. Alisa, the eight-year-old daughter of a Serbian mother and Bosnian father living in the town of Srebrenica, is sent to live with her grandparents in Serbia.
Alisa will see her mother again but not her father, for he was one of more than 8000 Bosnian Muslims massacred in the town.
A keen filmmaker throughout his life, all she has left of him is a VHS tape he sent her. Determined to learn more about the father she barely knew, she leaves her new home in America to venture into a grim past.
There is something incredibly poignant about old VHS tape. It looks at once modern and ancient, rather like parts of the former Yugoslavia itself. If you took away the colour some of the images could be fresh from the First World War.
Going on the information she has pieced together, Alisa traces the faces in the film. She sets up meetings with her dad's friends, relatives and neighbours. All are amazed to see the images, shocked and saddened, too.
Her grandmother tells her it is best not to remember, but Alisa feels she has no choice. The family never spoke about the war then or after and she is determined that won't happen with her own daughter.
The same question is asked again and again: how could such terrible things happen in the middle of modern Europe? There are no straightforward answers. Some are as bewildered now as they were then. The country was mixed, they say, integrated. Others keep their thoughts to themselves.
From the start a shadow hangs over the film that's impossible to ignore. We know what is coming. At the same time, there is so much life on screen. People going about their business, trying to make the best of an increasingly grim situation.
The inevitable comparisons will be with Ukraine but this is first and last a personal story, a portrait of a father and daughter. Alisa's mother features too, with the two women retracing the start of the escape through the forest that brought mum to safety. I would have liked to know more about Alisa's life in the US, but time and the edit did not allow.
Alisa's quest eventually takes her to a ceremony of remembrance. Every year more remains are discovered and burials take place.
The film is respectful throughout, nothing is exaggerated or dramatised because it does not need to be.
Alisa is a thoughtful, considerate, but persistent interviewer. For ten years she had not known what happened to her father. She finds her answers, or at least some of them, but there will always be more to say.
She even manages a few suprises at the end. Like her father she is a natural born filmmaker, and her story goes on.
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The National
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Brodsworth Hall was built between 1861 and 1863 for Charles Sabine Thellusson, on the estate his great-grandfather had bought in the late 18th century. It was given to English Heritage in 1990, when it had fallen into disrepair. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the building being open to the public. As part of the anniversary celebrations, objects linking to the official opening by Princess Margaret will be displayed. Caroline and Alf's grandson, Gordon Edwards, said: 'My family has cared for these significant items reflecting our family history and the history of Brodsworth for many years, and it has always been a fascinating record for us to look back on. 'We're so pleased to be able to donate these objects to English Heritage so they can continue to be cared for, shared with the public, and help to tell the important stories of those people below stairs who lived and worked at Brodsworth Hall.' Eleanor Matthews, English Heritage's curator of collections and interiors, said: 'It is extremely rare to have such a collection relating to the lives of servants survive, and to have them return to Brodsworth Hall over 100 years later is truly astounding. 'Alf's photographs are incredibly important to the history of the site and have provided us with the earliest image of staff at the estate – hopefully in time we will be able identify them all. 'We've learned too that Alf and Caroline were very well liked by the Thellussons, with Charles appearing as Godfather on their first son's baptism card, and his wife Constance's correspondence with Caroline after Alf's death. 'These beautiful, poignant items tell a story largely unknown to us until now and, thanks to this donation, we are able to add another layer of understanding to the rich fabric of Brodsworth's history.'
