Romeo and Juliet in Sarajevo

"Romeo and Juliet in Sarajevo" was an international documentary about the deaths of Admira Ismić (born 1968) and Boško Brkić (born 1968) (Serbian: "Адмира Исмић" and "Бошко Бркић"). The couple were natives of the former Yugoslavia, living in the city of Sarajevo. Like many other couples and families in Bosnia, they were of different religious backgrounds; she was a Bosniak, and he a Bosnian Serb. [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/transcripts/1217.html] They were killed on May 19, 1993, while fleeing the besieged city on Vrbanja bridge. Photographs of their dead bodies were used by numerous media outlets, and a now legendary Reuters dispatch about them was filed by Kurt Schork. They became a symbol for the suffering of the people on all sides of the conflict.

The documentary was co-produced by PBS's Frontline, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the National Film Board of Canada and WDR Germany. It was directed by John Zaritsky.

ynopsis

The Siege of Sarajevo caused living conditions to deteriorate drastically for its inhabitants and, in 1993, the couple decided to flee the city. Having friends on all sides involved in the conflict there was a general thought that their passage through the city and its infamous Sniper Alley could be a safe one.

An arrangement was made for May 19, 1993 at 17:00 h (GMT +01:00) that no one would fire as the couple approached. According to Dino Kapin, who was a Commander of Croatian Unit allied at the time with Bosnian Army forces, around 17:00 h, a man and a woman were seen approaching the bridge. As soon as they were at the foot of the bridge, a shot was heard, and according to all sides involved in their passage, the bullet hit Boško Brkić and killed him instantaneously. Another shot was heard and the woman screamed, fell down wounded, but was not killed. She crawled over to her boyfriend, cuddled him, hugged him, and died. It was observed that she was alive for at least 15 minutes after the shooting.

Mark H. Milstein, the American photojournalist who made the haunting image of Admira and Bosko which gave birth to Kurt Schork's article, recalled in an interview that "the morning of May 19, 1993 had been pretty much a bust" for him as far as making photos were concerned. "Excessive Bosnian Army bureaucracy had kept us away from the front line," Milstein said. "After lunch, I hooked up with Japanese freelance TV cameraman and a Washington Times journalist."

"Together," Milstein continued, "we cruised the city looking for something different. Everywhere we went in Sarajevo ended in frustration. Before calling it a day, however, we decided to check out the front-line around the Vrbanja Bridge."

"There was a small battle going on, with Bosnian forces firing at a group of Serb soldiers near the ruins of the Union Invest building," he said.

"Suddenly, a Serb tank appeared 200 meters in front of us, and fired over our heads," Milstein said. "We scrambled to the next apartment house, and found ourselves holed up with a group of Bosnian soldiers. One of the soldiers yelled at me to look out the window, pointing at a young girl and boy running on the far side of the bridge." I grabbed my camera, but it was too late," Milstein said. "The boy and girl were shot down. Bosnian Moslem Admira Ismic and Bosnian Serb Bosko Brckic, both 25, died trying to escape Sarajevo. Their bodies remained in the no-man's land for nearly four days before being recovered.

"I made two frames and afterwards, not knowing who they were or recognizing the significance of the event, returned to the Holiday Inn (where most journalists were headquartered) to develop my film," Milstein said. "Later that night I told Kurt Schork what I had seen, and together with his translator began piecing together the information that would eventually result in the news story." To this date, it is not known with certainty who fired the shots. The bodies of Admira and Boško lay on the bridge for days since no one dared to enter the Sniper Alley, a no man's land, and recover them. As the bodies lay on the bridge, Serbian and Bosnian sides were arguing over who killed the couple and who would ultimately take the responsibility for the killing. After eight days the bodies were recovered by Serbian forces in the middle of the night. However, it was later revealed that the Serbian army forced Bosnian POWs to go there in the middle of the night and recover the bodies.

They are now buried together, side by side in Lion Cemetery, surrounded by thousands of other victims from the Siege of Sarajevo.

Awards

For this film, director Zaritsky received the Alfred Dupont Award from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism as well as an Emmy Award nomination. [http://www.onf.ca/portraits/fiche.php?id=537&v=h&lg=en]

See also

* Vedran Smailović, known as the "Cellist of Sarajevo"
* Inela Nogić, Miss Sarajevo 1993
* Jill Sobule (album) - Vrbana Bridge

External links

* [http://www.nfb.ca/trouverunfilm/fichefilm.php?id=32791&v=h&lg=en&exp=${romeo} NFB Web page]
* [http://www.ansphoto.hu/romeo&~1.htm Mark H. Milstein's images with notes about making the world-famous photo of Bosko and Admira]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/transcripts/1217.html PBS Transcript "Romeo and Juliet of Sarajevo"]
* [http://www.albany.edu/jmmh/vol1no1/RJSarajevo.html The Journal for MultiMedia History]
* [http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/Bosnia/updates/9604/10/ CNN Mission: Peace "Bodies of Sarajevo's 'Romeo and Juliet' come home"]
* [http://www.ksmemorial.com/romeo.htm Kurt Schork’s signature dispatch from siege of Sarajevo]