If you consider this new film along with his last, the Berlin Silver Bear-winning "An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker," as well as the approach of his previous "Triage" and the Oscar-winning "No Man's Land," there can be no denying Bosnian director Danis Tanovic's powerful sense of social injustice and laudable desire to give earnest voice to the marginalized, the oppressed and the exploited, especially in conflict-riven or economically depressed situations. But it's an approach that requires a certain sacrifice, especially if it takes a reportedly true story as its basis —a sacrifice of the easier, more satisfying grand arcs of traditional narrative fiction: the fall-and-rise hero story, the David-and-Goliath narrative, or the familiar inspirational triumph-over-adversity theme. Real life and real problems tend not to fit into such tidy patterns, and if you wish to honor that reality and acknowledge the potentially warping factor of your own role...
