A different Croatia...

[dwh]

Hello Pipo! Welcome!

May I ask - have you seen the films by Boris Malagurski? I.e., "The Weight of Chains".

If so, what do you think of his films?

For those who haven't seen this film: Highly recommended.




http://www.weightofchains.com/

[Nikolaj]

I guess this thread is good for my first post. I'm a Danish person living in Croatia.

It is indeed a very nice country. Like some people said, certain places are overrun with tourists, but there are still many other places where you can go and have unique experiences without being bothered by tons of other people. Slavonia is very nice and does not have many tourists. There are many beautiful national parks and mountains where you can go hiking. People are very friendly and eager to show their country to tourists.

I also highly recommend Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro - those countries are all wonderful with beautiful nature (especially Bosnia) and highly worth a visit. If you like to visit cities then Belgrade is amazing and very cosmopolitan.

As for the movie "Weight of Chains." I'm a history major and Balkan history is where my interest is. (which is the reason I am here in the first place) and it is my opinion that this movie is not a very accurate portrayal of Yugoslavia and the events that led to the disintegration of the country. Its a biased and stylistic portrayal that is a bit out of touch with reality. Unfortunatley, history in this part of the world is a very politicized area and its easy to be misled if you just watch/read a few things without background knowledge.

If you want to watch something a little more neutral and i'd even say more scientific then check out BBC's documentary series "The Death of Yugoslavia" in 6 parts.

If anyone has any questions about travelling in Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia or Montenegro then feel free to ask me.

[dwh]

If you want to watch something a little more neutral and i'd even say more scientific then check out BBC's documentary series "The Death of Yugoslavia" in 6 parts.

Thank you VERY much for that recommendation. I was hoping for an opinion from someone "on the scene" as to the veracity of that film.

And welcome to ExPo!

[dwh]

Apparently there is some accusation (of course) of western bias in regards to the BBC documentary. I'll watch it anyway.

Opinions on "Yugoslavia: The Avoidable War"?

[Nikolaj]

I agree that the BBC documentary is slightly biased. However, its still a lot more neutral than Weight of Chains and its the best documentary out there. Its made in 1995 while fighting was still going. It has interviews with several of the politicians, generals and leaders involved including Milosevic, Tudjman and Izetbegovic. I think you will find very little media and litterature in this field to be considered unbiased because its still so heavily politicized.

As for "Yugoslavia: The Avoidable War"? - I don't think its an accurate portrayal either. Its not that these movies dont bring up a few good points, but its the conclusion that they draw from those points that is faulty. They are interesting to watch, but one should be careful about drawing conclusions about the subject based on them alone. Really, the best way to get information is in books but ofcourse a movie is easier and quicker to digest.

There is another docu film called "A Cry from the Grave" about the Srebrenica massacre. Its also an interesting watch, but imo not as good as the BBC series.

Alas, now we've fallen into the usual trap of bringing up a 20 year old conflict in a topic about a modern european country. Most Serbs, Croats and Bosnians want to move on - its not fair that us foreigners bring up this subject everytime these countries get mentioned. War is over now and I can honestly say that these countries are some of the safest places I have ever travelled. I am more afraid of walking home alone friday night in my birth town in Denmark with 25.000 people than I am walking home alone in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. Still, the countries all have a lot of problems with corrupt politicians and poor economy and the people are too apathetic to do anything about it...I think its a leftover from communist times.

I've been to all the ex-Yugoslav countries except Macedonia, they have a lot to offer regardless of your interests and tastes and people are very genuine and friendly

Just be careful about where you go offroad in your truck, there are still landmines in some parts of Croatia and Bosnia

Also thanks for the welcoming!

Edit: I'll upload some photos when I get back from work.

[ReconH3]

I agree with Nikolaj on moving on and feeling safe in Croatia. I was there both in 92 and in 2002. When I returned in 2002, I fell in love with the place and it's people. It was amazing what they had managed to do to rebuild the country. The pride and love for their country was outstanding. I hadn't felt something like that in all my travels. I felt safer there than I did in Switzerland. Truly fell in love with the place and it's people.


"Ex Umbris Venimus"

Sent from my iPhone

[dwh]

Alas, now we've fallen into the usual trap of bringing up a 20 year old conflict in a topic about a modern european country. Most Serbs, Croats and Bosnians want to move on - its not fair that us foreigners bring up this subject everytime these countries get mentioned. War is over now and I can honestly say that these countries are some of the safest places I have ever travelled. I am more afraid of walking home alone friday night in my birth town in Denmark with 25.000 people than I am walking home alone in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.

For me it's not about safety. I like history, and one of my best friends a few decades ago was Yugoslav - so I have just a genuine interest.

Still, the countries all have a lot of problems with corrupt politicians and poor economy and the people are too apathetic to do anything about it...I think its a leftover from communist times.

Sounds like the U.S., but we can't even claim it's a leftover from previous times...

[dwh]

Watched the first installment of the BBC series.

The one thing I noticed right off is that they spent exactly zero time examining whether or not the Kosovan Serbs complaints against the Albanians were true.

Not knowing myself if the complaints are true or not, I would think that it would be an important question. But nothing. Zero, ziltch, nada.

It's such a glaring oversight that if the other installments in the series contain similarly obvious omissions, then I can certainly see where accusations of bias could come from.