03.18.2019

Director Henry Singer on the Brutal Bosnian Genocide

Henry Singer, co-director of “The Trial of Ratko Mladic,” joins the program to look back at the leaders behind the brutal Bosnian genocide of the 1990’s.

Read Transcript EXPAND

LET'S START BY SAYING HOW TIMELY THIS INVESTIGATION INTO HOW THIS NATIONALISM AND THIS WHITE SUPREMACY BOILS OVER, GIVEN WHAT WE'RE SEEING NOW, IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE.

IT IS LIKE THE BALKANS SORT OF WITH A PRECURSOR ALMOST, TO WHAT WE'RE SEEING NOW.

YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.

WHEN WE STARTED THE FILM, WE HAD NO IDEA OBVIOUSLY THAT IT WAS GOING TO BE SO SADLY TOPICAL.

WE WANTED TO MAKE THE FILM BECAUSE IT WAS, IT IS AN HISTORIC TRIAL, AND MY CO DIRECTOR FELT NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THE ICTY IS.

THIS IS AN EXTRAORDINARY INSTITUTION. ITS BRINGING WAR CRIMINALS TO TRIAL, AND YET IN THE SIX YEARS IT TOOK TO MAKE THIS FILM, THE WORLD HAS CHANGED.

WE'VE SEEN TRUMP AS PRESIDENT, BREXIT, WE HAVE A LOT OF ANTI-IMMIGRATION RHETORIC, AND A LOT OF IT AS YOU SAY, IS BUILT ON NATIONALISM.

SO IN A FUNNY KIND OF WAY, THIS TRIAL AND THIS FILM, AND THE WAR IN THE BALKANS, IS A KIND OF, A PAST MICROCOSM OF SOME OF THE DEVELOPMENTS WE'RE SEEING TODAY.

SO I WANT TO PLAY ONE OF THE CLIPS.

WE'VE GOT SEVERAL CLIPS, IT IS IMPORTANT, IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO TELL THE STORY.

THE FIRST ONE I WANT TO PLAY IS WITH THE PROSECUTOR, HE IS AN WITH THE PROSECUTOR, HE IS AN AMERICAN, PETER McCLOSKI, DETAILING TO THE COURT THE EVENTS OF JULY 11, THE LAST MASSACRE THAT TOOK PLACE, AND FOR WHICH RATKO MLADIC AND HIS POLITICAL HENCH MEN WERE INDICTED FOR GENOCIDE AND OTHER CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY.

AND THIS IS WHAT THEY TOLD THE COURT.

BY THE AFTERNOON OF 11 JULY, RATKO MLADIC AND HIS FORCES ENTERED SBREIZA AND THEY FOUND IT ALMOST COMPLETELY VACANT.

THE MASTER OF SOMETHING.

BRIEFLY .

AFTER THIS OMINOUS REMARK ABOUT REVENGE, HIS TROOPS CAPTURED AND SYSTEMATICALLY MURDERED THOUSANDS OF MEN AND BOYS.

About This Episode EXPAND

Christiane Amanpour speaks with Lianne Dalziel, the Mayor of Christchurch, New Zealand, about gun reform; Christian Picciolini, a former Neo-Nazi, about how terrorists become radicalized; and Henry Singer, a filmmaker, about the Bosnian genocide. Walter Isaacson speaks with actor/musician Stevie Van Zandt about his career.

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