‘Vukovar’s’ Meaning

On March 29 you published a review of the film “Vukovar” (“Vukovar Takes Grim Look at Love in War”). I agree that the noble intent of every war movie should be to show the madness and cruelty of such an enterprise avoiding (if at all possible) the specific political aspects of the conflict. However Vukovar’s story is too well known for such an “impartial” interpretation. Vukovar together with Srebrenica was the sight of the most cruel atrocities committed by the Serbs on the Croats and Muslims. Had the producer wanted to show only how ugly a war is he should have chosen an imaginary city.

Could you imagine an “impartial” interpretation of the suppression of the Jewish uprising in the ghetto of Warsaw during World War II? Or a love affair between a Jewish girl and a SS Nazi officer? The siege of the Warsaw Jewish ghetto is identical with the siege of Vukovar. Would our community tolerate such an “impartial” interpretation of the massacre of the Jews?

ANTHONY M. MLIKOTIN

Rancho Palos Verdes