It's the beginning of the school year again, and the circle of friends has been brushed by a wave of children going to school! But in a troubled country, it is a luxury for children to want to go to school. Afghanistan, where the Taliban took over, is still in chaos, and the children are more concerned about not being injured by the bomb, and it is already happy to be able to eat enough! In addition to the Powder Keg in the Middle East, the Balkan Islands in Europe were once tense, and children needed armored vehicles from peacekeepers to pick them up after school, which is the Serbian movie "Goodbye Is Still a Friend".
Set against the backdrop of the Kosovo War, the film tells the story of two rival ethnic groups, Albanian and Serbian children. The predominantly Albanian region of Kosovo, with the support of NATO countries, demanded independence, and Serbian troops withdrew and replaced them with the takeover of peacekeeping forces. Serbian child Nenad lives in such an environment, with an elderly and bedridden grandfather, a father who drinks all day, and sitting in a tank every day to go to and from school and play games with priests. The young boy longed for friends of his peers, but was surrounded by hostile Albanian children who were jealous of Nenad's ability to sit in a tank and throw stones at him.
But where is the hatred between children? Nenard took two Albanian children to the tank, and together they happily played in the small river and became friends. However, Ashkin, an older boy who is angry because his father died in the war, treats Nenard roughly in the game and shoots himself by mistake. The well-meaning priest who sent the wounded child home turned into a misunderstanding, exacerbating the hatred between the two peoples. Fortunately, the Albanian children wake up in time to find someone to rescue the trapped Nenad, but they are separated forever.
The film reflects the indelible damage the cost of war on children. The hatred and hostility between adults have overshadowed children's supposedly carefree childhood. Ashkin loses his father and becomes violent and hateful, Nenad has to hide in an armored car to go to school, and he becomes lonely and introverted without a playmate. The metaphor of two children forced to grow up in the war is intriguing, Ashkin puts on his brother's leather shoes and picks up a gun but injures himself by mistake, and Nenard wears his father's pants full of funny looks. Childhood is no longer full of joy, but more difficult to tell the sadness and helplessness.
The adult world is more cruel, how badly are the Serbs in Kosovo being suppressed? The film has a large number of contrasting scenes, the Albanians are firing guns to celebrate the wedding with great fanfare, and Nader's father is arrested for stealing guns to protect his cattle but is found by the police. The bus returning home was attacked by the driver's head and bleeding, and the aunt could only walk home and did not see the last side of the old man. On the way to the funeral, the Albanian people had to take a detour and hide in an armored vehicle, and finally the Serb cemetery was destroyed, the church was burned, and the family was forced to leave their former home! On the one hand, the newlyweds get married and sing and dance, and on the other hand, the old man dies cold and sad, which is the fate of two families and the fate of two peoples! We can intuitively see the status and situation of the two sides at that time!
The film does not deliberately sensationalize and fierce struggle, but uses the most simple and sincere lens language to present the various scenes of people's lives in a turbulent and sad social background, and cuts in from the perspective of children's innocence, with tears and warmth and depth! Although there are ethnic contradictions, social prejudices, and religious and racial barriers, it is difficult to hide the brilliance of human nature, and the children of two different nationalities are reconciled. But can two opposing peoples reconcile? The world of adults is far more complicated than that of children!
At the end of the film, Nader, who leaves Kosovo for a new environment, is also ridiculed and ostracized by his classmates, while he remembers his best friend Ashkin, the Albanian boy who bullied him but still came back to save him. The director did not force the two peoples to reconcile perfectly, but reflected on the national issue from a more open perspective. The gaps, conflicts and confrontations caused by worldly prejudices, narrow cognitions, and gaps in identities are actually everywhere, but we still expect to respect, tolerate and live in harmony with each other with sincerity, innocence and kindness like children!