Dacula: The Value of Humanity

In both the novel The Cellist of Sarajevo and the film Welcome to Sarajevo, we see the longest siege in recent human history portrayed in very different ways.

The novel centers around four characters: Kenan, Arrow, Dragan, and the cellist of Sarajevo. Kenan is the first character we meet that helps to depict the terror and effects the Bosnian Serb forces inflict on the city of Sarajevo. Kenan tries to avoid the terror going on in the city for four days, but eventually decides to leave and get water for his wife and children as well as his self-centered and mean neighbor (we see his character trait of selflessness when he decides to get water for his neighbor as well). His decision to get water for his family is not an easy task, however. In doing this, Kenan puts himself at risk of open gunfire and the possibility of buildings being bombed around him as he travels. His only motivation for doing this is survival, not only for himself but for his family. Arrow is the next character we meet, though she does not want to face this real name. Arrow’s name reminds her of happier times before the siege began. We read that she is called Arrow “so that the person who fought and killed could someday be put away.” She struggles throughout the novel with this dark time as well as her morality. Arrow is chosen to protect the cellist as he plays for 22 days as a requiem for the 22 people who were killed. Towards the end of the novel, we see that Arrow must face who she is. When the war is over, we read that Arrow longs to be her old self who “hated nobody.” She must face her true self, however, and after the war, comes to terms with the possibility that her old self may not even exist. Dragan sends his wife and son out of the city as the war begins. He is paralyzed by fear. Dragan’s mission is to cross the street to survive. If he doesn’t do this, he will eventually die, but if he does, he risks being shot.

While the novel is called The Cellist of Sarajevo, we do not read much about this character in the novel. We know that the cellist witnessed a shelling attack from her window. This prompts him to play for 22 days in memory of 22 lives killed, lives that were his friends and neighbors. In playing this ode to their lives, we see the cellist’s refusal to lose his humanity. In spite of the risks associated with playing, including the risk on his life, he continues to do so.  

What resonates with all four characters in the novel is the fact that they are everyday people who must act as heroes for their own survival and the survival of their loved ones. Each character’s task is a risk on their lives. However, these characters try to do everything in their power to hold on to their lives and not give up so easily. They find value in their life in spite of the “men on the hill” threatening their well-being every day they walk outside.

In the film, the story focuses on two journalists, Flynn and Henderson. These journalists fly to Sarajevo from the UK to report on the siege occurring in the city. While the film obviously takes a different approach than the novel by initially focusing on the journalists, both works preserve the element of the cellist as the central metaphor of the siege. Flynn and Henderson find an orphanage as they travel around Sarajevo and cannot help but take action to save them, particularly a child named Emira. Henderson tries to get her away from Sarajevo but eventually must bring her back because her mother wanted her back. His attempt to save these children puts his own life and survival at risk in the midst of this war. We see by the end of the film that Henderson was able to adopt Emira. The cellist plays at the end of the film in the middle of the city. The cellist makes it his duty to see that these people do not die in a state of desolation by playing his music for them, even if people were going to die by listening to it. By having them listen to music in the face of death, they would not have to die in vain and misery.

While we see the siege of Sarajevo in different lights with the film and novel, we see one particular theme resonating strongly in both works: the value and worth of humanity. In the novel, we read about four characters whose sole reason for survival is that they value life and the lives of their loved ones too much to give it up so easily to the Bosnian Serbs. In the film, we see that not only do people find worth in living, but complete strangers also find value in others, and as an extension, value in the hope for humanity. The cellist, like Szpilman in The Pianist, uses music as a metaphor to keeping humanity alive in the face of utter desolation.