As If I Am Not There

As If I Am Not There (Serbian: Као да ме нема, Kao da me nema) is a 2010 drama film made by Irish director Juanita Wilson. The film is set in the Balkans and is shot in the Serbo-Croatian language.[1] It was selected as the Irish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards,[1][2][3] but did not make the final shortlist.[4]

The film follows a young teacher who travels to a remote village. After the village is attacked, she is imprisoned and raped, together with the women of village. It is based on Slavenka Drakulić's 1999 novel of the same name that deals with war rape in the Bosnian War.[5]

Set during the Bosnian War, the movie follows the experiences of a young female teacher from Sarajevo who travels to a remote village to teach. Soon after arriving, the village is attacked by a group of soldiers. The men are killed, the women separated from the children, and placed in a makeshift brothel. There, the women are repeatedly raped and beaten.

The film is adapted from a novel by Croatian journalist Slavenka Drakulic based on testimony of women taken prisoner during the Bosnian War.

The film received positive reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 85% based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10.[6]