The High Sun

War never really ends. It leaves its survivors a legacy of hate and prejudice, as well as one of love and hope. This truth is played out on the stage of two warring Balkan villages. Within them, over a span of 30 years, three couples face the hurdles of war and its aftermath. The arc of these tales covers a time of battle and bewildering peace. It begins in 1991, where the fate of Jelena and Ivan hinges on a military check-point, and brings us to a drug-fueled rave in 2011, where Marija and Luka try to cope with the disillusionment the war has bequeathed them. Much was destroyed in the conflict, but hope for happiness somehow survived. For some that hope will brutally end. For others it hovers like dust from an explosion. Brilliantly using the same actors to portray all three couples, THE HIGH SUN is a beautiful film that creates a mythic subtext of loss and continuity of the unstoppable need and power of individuals to hold on to each other, no matter what the cost. (In Croatian with subtitles) –C.R.