The film and the book were all right even though the movie did not follow the book. However, with this we are able to get a sense of what is going on in the city during the siege through three people going through it in the book and get a look on what the rest of world is seeing from an outsider’s perspective through the film.
In the book, The Cellist of Sarajevo, three people, two locals by the names of Dragan and Keenan and a soldier who goes by the name of Arrow, tell us the story of the Siege of Sarajevo through their eyes and experiences. All three of them are living inside a figurative wall of this siege giving us an experience within the city of Sarajevo. Looking at the cellist, who actually has a bit of a minor part that plays an important role in the story, he is more human than anyone because he plays for each victim that fell not because he knew them, but because he cares about people whether he knows them or not. Arrow is sent to protect the cellist for his compassion. The three main characters all show the reactions of one person’s reaction to what a siege can do.
In the film, Welcome to Sarajevo, we do not get several perspective’s of the inside of the siege, but an outsider’s look beyond Sarajevo into the rest of world surrounding Sarajevo through the journey that reporter Michael Henderson goes through while trying to write an article about the siege. Henderson chose the orphanage first as a pace to focus an article for the front page, but wound up getting attached and, thanks to the humanity in him, decided to try and save them from the siege. We also do not necessarily get a cellist who plays for his compassion, but we get a cellist named Harun who will play when Sarajevo become the number one worst place to live. At the end of the film, Harun plays his cello because Sarajevo is now the number one worst place to live. So, instead of having a cellist who is a minor, but prominent role, playing for compassion and in honor of those who died, we have a cellist who plays for Sarajevo’s new status in the world as the worst place to live. The book shows that there are people out there who do care for others, the film does not, but the film does show that people care about their home.
I like the point you mentioned about the cellist’s minor role becoming a major part of life in Sarajevo at the end of the film. In both works, the cellist seems to play a minor role for the majority of them. However, in the end we see the cellist as the central metaphor for the value of human life in both works as well. Especially in the film, we see that the cellist does indeed become a symbol of love and compassion in the midst of Sarajevo being deemed the “number one worst place to live.”
ReplyDeleteI do want to point out that the film is not completely devoid of “people out there who do care for others.” We see evidence of people caring for others in the film through Henderson’s caring for Emira. He does not know her at all prior to visiting Sarajevo. However, by the end of the film he adopts her and saves her life in doing so. The book does do a better job at portraying the struggle to survive and people who care for others, but we shouldn’t ignore Henderson’s act in the film as an example of this compassion for others.
The movie and the book ar completely different, the movie is about journalists and the book is about 3 people who live in Sarajevo, and the effect the cellist has on them.
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