Review
"Obrad, you're a real asshole. I'm glad we had a war."
"Me too!"
I visited a friend in Sarajevo around 2016 and learned about Sarajevo roses, impact craters from Serbia's siege that now serve as memorials for people who died. I've always been fascinated by the way people and communities develop coping mechanisms to deal with severe trauma.
Another coping mechanism for this type of thing is gallows humor, and that's what was on my mind throughout most of Fuse.
In Fuse, it's been two years since the Bosnian War ended, and while there is peace, the town of Tešanj is riddled with crime and corruption. News that President Clinton is going to visit sends the town into a madcap rehabilitation campaign. Many seemingly disparate character stories collide as Tešanj hopes to capture Western capital or attention.
The movie starts off downbeat: a grieving father talking to his missing son's ghost, a woman injured by a mine, and a human trafficking operation (and that's just like, 10 minutes in). It's only been two years since the war, and all of that enmity, fear, and exhaustion still hangs over the town. Despite a grim setup, this story is still primarily a comedy. A gloomy one, sure, but there is a lot of humor to be mined from a hopelessly crooked government trying to quickly fake its way to respectability.
All of the ensemble cast's stories converge in a way that makes sense for a small town, but along the way it feels like we're following way too many people. A couple of the storylines are moving and insightful, but aren't allowed to breathe because we have to keep checking in on other people.
The best storyline is the one that ends the film. It signals a bittersweet hope that's reminiscent of the Sarajevo roses: the ghosts of the past are ever present, but sometimes you can choose how to carry them with you as you move forward.
Focus Group Film Club
Aug 2026: A Trip to the Balkans
