Sirin
Sirin
5.9
Sanela, a Montenegrin of Muslim background who left the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s after her father was kidnapped and killed alongside other Muslims, comes back to the Balkans after twenty years abroad. She has betrayed her origins, erased her own culture, and become a true Westerner. They say the past is a foreign land and that the one who departs and the one who returns are not the same person.
alexandermock reviewedJuly 23, 2025
A legal drama about the little known Balkan country of Montenegro. The story is about a lawyer and her representative/translator (who is an American of Montenegrin descent) trying to carry out the will of another Montenegrin American which is to build a church in her small home village.
The protagonist of the film (the representative/translator) was a Muslim born in Montenegro but had to leave due to the violence during the breakup of Yugoslavia. During the film she hesitantly reconnects with her roots and deals with some mild corruption and controversy over building the church. The main conflict is the brother of the dead women refuses to allow the church to be built and is harassing the construction workers, while the mayor, contractor and local priest are obviously corrupt.
The film left a lot to be desired. I didn’t mind so much about not dwelling on the protagonist past, and much of her life and history is implied rather then shown. However there is a severe lack of details in the movie. The motivations of the other Montenegrin characters are just hinted at or explained a way in a minute or two. Like we know the mayor is crooked but don’t see it in action. We know the priest is shady but he only speaks for a minute. The reason why the brother hates the sister is a bit vague.
This could have been a deep movie about generational trauma and ptsd, anxiety and longing of the diaspora, and a country trying to modernize but being unable to shake off its corrupt ways. Instead he’s just a glimpse into these things, but none of them are fully realized.
Performances are great and the overall plot is good, but it just felt a bit hollow.