Return to Kosovo is what it says on the tin – a return to a forgotten war, a conflict confined mainly to the history books for many, but etched in the memories of journalists who were there. And they were there – Julius Strauss, Vaughan Smith, Leman Muriqi and others who came together at the Frontline Club for the film’s first London screening.
The documentary tells the story of a young child, Besnik, an ethnic Albanian boy who survived one of Kosovo’s most brutal massacres. The innocent smile on his face caught on tape masks the horror of losing his entire family during a brutal and senseless attack by Serb forces and irregulars. The visuals of Besnik being comforted by his uncle are especially poignant.
As the film develops, we see – Besnik – two decades on, a grown man and himself now a father who talks with clarity, emotion, and a resolute acceptance of what happened to him and his family. What’s remarkable is that he isn’t bitter about the war or his personal loss.
There’s another protagonist in this film, Julius Strauss, a former Daily Telegraph journalist who was documenting the war and met Besnik during his reporting. We go on a journey with Julius, too, who seems to have hardly aged in the two decades. We travel with him as he navigates through Kosovo, the Canadian wilderness, then back to Kosovo, through thick and thin, and personal loss.
When he visits Besnik two decades on after receiving a message on Facebook, Emma, an amateur filmmaker and Julius’s daughter, accompanies him to the country. There’s something very touching about continuity in the face of war, as you see Julius and his daughter and Besnik and his young children in the film. The documentary also sees Julius open up and talk movingly about his struggles with mental health and losing his wife to cancer.
Many audience members were moved to tears, with one commenting that she “cried a lot.” Ollie, a young documentary filmmaker, asked Julius and Vaughan about their impact on the course of history during the Q&A that followed the screening. The panellists recounted the pressure the media (especially TV news) could exert at the time on Western governments. They were in agreement however that the job of journalists was only to tell the story.
Leman, who had worked as Julius’ translator/fixer reunited with him to work on this film. She spoke passionately about the impact it had on audiences when it was first screened in Pristina a year ago. The packed auditorium in London also felt the impact as they experienced what was a great piece of journalism, art and history.