The Unforgiven: A War Criminal´s Remorse
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- Опубликовано: 21 сен 2024
- #Yugoslavia #War #ICTY #Bosnia #reconciliation
Esad Landzo was convicted of torture, war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 1998.
He was a 19 year old prison guard at the Celebici camp in Konjic, Bosnia, notorious for abuse and torture of prisoners of war, many of whom were civilians, during the Bosnian War.
When he is released from prison in Finland after 10 years, Landzo is without a job and unable to get a visa from any other country.
Desperate to rebuild a normal life, but tormented by the demons of his past, he begins an exhausting search for the men he tortured in an attempt to repent for the suffering he caused.
A handful agree to listen, but their anger is palpable as they confront the horrific violence of their past.
FILMMAKER'S VIEW
By Lars Feldballe Petersen
In 1992, the images of the Bosnian War hit me with a force so strong that they are still etched in my mind today. Europe was burning again and I was compelled to ask: What drives people beyond their own limits and societal norms?
How do they explain their actions and how do they relate to them afterwards? Do they regret? Do they seek forgiveness? Or are they forever hardened and committed to justifying their actions? … Would they do it again? In fact, several of my films explore these questions.
While working on a film called ‘Crossing the Line’ in 2006, I met Esad Landzo. He was 30 years old then and had served 7 of the 15 years he had been sentenced to.
Esad made a strong impression on me and, as I was already working on the other film, I decided to continue watching and filming him on the journey he had begun in the Finnish prison. It was a journey back to himself and back to an existence that, at the time, seemed impossible to imagine: without an education and unable to return to his native Bosnia, life after the end of his sentence was uncertain.
But there was something different about Esad. For the first time, it became clear to me that the basic theme I had been working on needed to be expanded. Esad, more than anyone else I’d met, had the courage to put into words the central question I’d been looking for: What makes people cross the lines of acceptable behaviour and commit indescribable cruelty?
Can offenders and victims move on without reconciling with each other and with their shared past? ... How else should we put wars behind us, all our wounds and losses, and resume life with an optimistic belief in our future?
Lars Feldbelle Petersen, director.
Meeting Esad also made me see the role that victims, survivors, and each of us in society as a whole also play because Esad had a burning desire to become 'one of us' again. A desire to be worthy of life, to be at peace with himself, with his family and the outside world. But throughout the film he begins to have the significant realisation that he cannot lift the curse of war single-handedly because everyone has been affected and afflicted by it.
What he wants more than anything is to be forgiven, he believes that if he can relieve the pain of some of his victims and survivors, he might be able to envisage a future for himself, but he understands that the best he can hope for might be to just relieve some of his own suffering.
As he tries to make amends, difficult questions are raised: What does punishment mean, if it’s not followed by a form of forgiveness? What motivation does the criminal, the executioner, the fighter have to get back on track, to improve and change, if not the belief that change is possible and the curse can be lifted?
Can offenders and victims move on without reconciling with each other and with their shared past? Do we not just have to offer and accept forgiveness of some form? How else should we put wars behind us, all our wounds and losses, and resume life with an optimistic belief in our future?
By following Esad closely and filming him for 12 years, I have had a unique opportunity to examine all these feelings and reflections from a deeply personal angle. In the film, we see that he is willing to return and confront his victims and the survivors in an effort to show a possible way forward for them and himself.
In Esad I have met a gifted and charismatic person with a unique ability to put his thoughts and feelings into words. Esad is also one of the most sincere and reflective people I have ever met. It is my conviction that, thanks to the confidence he has shown in me through these many years of intense work and self-reflection, that my film will be able to shed light on some of his reflections and offer a new basis for an important conversation about guilt, reconciliation and the possibility of forgiveness.
Source: Al Jazeera
When you hurt someone, don’t expect forgiveness in return. You have to live with your accountability for the rest of your life. For those who can forgive, I admire your strength to do so.
I remember reading accounts of what he did. He was extremely sadistic. It didn’t surprise me that they didn’t forgive him. It surprised me that he was only a guard there for 2 months. I’d like to know what all those psychiatrists and psychologists made of him.
The survivors had a lot of strength and dignity, and I feel for them. It was good to hear that the sexual abuse was not hushed up, because men and boys on every side in that war suffered sexual assaults, and its nothing to be ashamed of, brutality is brutality.
One of the most amazing documentaries I have seen. Why haven’t many people seen this?
He dose not have remorse he is doing all this to make him self feel better or to make him self believe that he did not do anything wrong my dad was in the prison and was beaten by this man so many times and other of my family members were there as well and he did the same thing to them as well and after having all this happen to them how can you for give him in my opinion he can go to hell
Maybe you are right but I spoke with the Danish producer of this film, and he told me that he had sincere remorses! Many Muslims stoped talking with him after this!
What a sobering documentary...it's fantastic but very sad...
War always create pain , destructions, suffering , trans generational trauma and is against humanity.
This man hurt other human beings and he will never find his inner peace .
But at least there is so much decency in him to apologize .
Not one Cetnik ever apologized for they evil doing toward Bosnian people for killing and torturing civilians , for committing GENOCIDE , for keeping city of Sarajevo 44 months under siege , for creating so many refugees .
This torturer is trying to apologize , this will not erase they pain and suffering but is positive gesture toward his victims .
ruclips.net/video/s6Bhqb38rO4/видео.html
It was a massacre of criminal gangs killing villagers. No genocide.
ruclips.net/video/s6Bhqb38rO4/видео.html
He was young his brain not fully mature was picked to be a prison guard that's one reason we have 18 yrs old in military to serve they obey orders and do risky behaviors compare to a older person most of the times
I would say he was very young and his commanders used his naivity and stupidity.
I lived in Sarajevo until 1988 and my parents lived in West Germany as guest workers. Then they finally brought me to Berlin. I can tell you yugoslavia was a difficult country. Closed system. People didnt think in a manner whats wrong and what right. They seperate each other in serbs , bosniaks and croats. And whats more worse they used the religion.
I asked myself many times what would happen to me if i stayed there.
Nije se on izvinuo sto mu je zao nego da njemu bude lakse. I vidi mu se olaksanje posle toga.
What about Serbrnica?
8000 innocent men and boys killed!
The killers are considered heroes in Serbia!
Ja sam musliman i mislim kao ti. On je izgubljen. Njega je stigla njegova licna istins
U njemu je sejtan i on ide direktno u Dzehenem on je obican monstrum a ima i Boga i Allaha sve vidi i svakom po zasluzi
He shows no real remorse...just a publicity stunt. Only God can forgive you, you must dedicate every breath to giving back to society otherwise your going straight to hell
it's not like he couldn't have focused on art without going to art school.... being a spoiled brat, entitled to something, not making the best of it. yes he was young but it doesn't excuse it. he could have channeled his bad feelings in other ways. the war happened to come then but he still had a choice of what to do. getting that thrill of power over people suffering-- a very sick thing, no matter what the age. (perhaps it is inherent in all men tho.... sickening)
Slusajuci mu majku rekao bih da je bila dominantna u toj porodici, a i prema njemu. Kao da je bio zlostavljan i da mu je ovo bila prilika da se dokaze. Njegovo ponasanje mi ni najmanje ne odaje ponasanje coveka koji se kaje, jer se coveku kome je naneo zlo i patnju obraca sa TI.
Ko se to nama izvinuo za njihove zlocine
nikoga
Niko se nije nikada izvinuo
On se izvinjava u svoje ime a ne u ime bih i bosnjacka zaednica tako da nema problem
This man was so brave... that he was want forgiveness what he did in past....but the serbs people's who did much Dipper war crimes in Bosnia and Kosovo killing millions of Muslims inocent people r proud for that they are did in past.... that's the difference between Muslims and serbs...
What millions you talking about
Milions ? So you are saying there is no more muslims in Bosnia? Jesus Christ lies from bosnian muslim propaganda are unbelievable
ni jeda srbin se nije izvinio nikome
Tako je
i zato je Esad bolji od svih Srba
Kategoricki netacno
ruclips.net/video/yWLg4ELldCo/видео.html&ab_channel=DarkoJankovic
Within themselves some carry guilt. I can't really say for sure but I suspect some do.