Go West (2004, Bosnia Hercegovina)

An uneven but moving story about a gay couple in the ravages of war when Yugoslavia splintered in 1992. Milan (played by Tarik Filipovic) is a Bosnian Serb, and he has a secret gay relationship with the submissive Kenan (played by Mario Drmac). Kenan is a serious cello player, and he is a Muslim. Following the collapse of Soviet communism, horrific internal war breaks out in Bosnia where they live, and they decide that they have to leave Sarajevo together. But their journey is intercepted by Serb militiamen who are enforcing the ethnic cleansing policy of their leader, and if Kenan is detected he will be killed on the spot. Muslims are detected by looking for circumcised men, and Milan decides that Kenan could be passed off as a woman -- as his new bride, in fact.

They manage to get through to the village where Milan was brought up, and everyone there welcomes their long-lost relative, and for the time being Kenan continues to be passed off as Milan's bride-to-be. Filipovic has feminine features, but a pronounced adam's apple, and it is not obvious that the pretence could have lasted very long in this close-knit macho environment. A woman of the village, Ranka, befriends Kenan, and we suspected that some kind of lesbian bonbd might be developing; here (pic) Ranka is washing at the village pump and does not hesitate to remove her blouse in front of Kenan, cross-questioning Kenan about what Milan is like -- in bed.

However the master plan is now to arrange for some black-market documentation for the pair, so that they can escape to safer areas of Western Europe -- hence the film title. Unfortunately Milan's father springs a surprise wedding on his son and the attractive girl he has brought with him -- the older man yearns for grandchildren. Here (pic) an earth-moving truck has been borrowed from a nearby quarry to help the celebrations.

Suddenly, we learn that Milan has to join the army and go off to the front line to fight for his country, and Kenan is left alone in the village, still in the role of a female. He has been friendly with a woman in the village, Ranka. When Kenan stamps out a fire that has been lit, his skirt catches fire (in a particularly badly acted sequence), and Ranka spreads herself over him to smother the flames, and in doing so discovers Kenan's male genitalia. She doesn't seem quite as surprised as I would have expected, but she is certainly pleased, and it seems to be taken for granted by everyone that the two will now have frequent sex, which they do.

The film well conveys the tragedy of the Balkan states tearing themselves and their people apart; the allegory of the inter-ethnic love between Milan and Kenan is powerful; at the level of credibility, maybe the film stretches our belief a little too far, and the predictably tragic ending of the film denies us any feel-good element.

HF May 2008

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