NO ONE´S CHILD

In a forest in Bosnia, hunters find a little boy who has apparently been raised by wolves without any contact to human civilization. He is given the name Haris and brought to live in a children’s home in Belgrade. Made fun of by the other kids and initially given up on by his caretakers, Pućke, as the wolfchild is known less than affectionately there, slowly begins to develop some trust in the fellow members of his actual species – suffering repeated disappointment in the process. In his debut film, Vuk Ršumović gives himself plenty of time to tell this tale of becoming human, which is based on a true story, all the while managing to avoid kitsch or pathos. In long and calm, almost documentary-like shots he shows how Haris, impressively portrayed by Denis Murić, develops over the course of four years from a wild animal into a “useful” member of society. The process of his “taming” serves to unmask the rule of violence in the realm of totally everyday human interaction – not least of which as illustrated in the extreme by the madness of the Yugoslav wars, which the action of the film leads up to. Ršumović’s by equal turns horrible and beautiful parable plays out the proverbial “homo homini lupus” to its end.