ABSTRACT
Beverley Allen, in her study Rape Warfare: The Hidden Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia (1996) has argued that, during the war in Bosnia, countless atrocities were committed and, among these crimes, thousands of women were raped and tortured under the auspices of 'ethnic-cleansing and genocide'. Calling the Ghosts is a documentary that picks up the thread of the victims' memories and attempts to reconstruct a cohesive portrait of what life after 'rape' has been like for two Bosnian women. The film explores the relation between testimony and transmission, both in terms of the transformation of trauma into language, and the transmission of testimony through film. It is both a study of the relation between the survivor and language, demonstrating how the filmmakers assist the two women to find the language that bears witness to their pain, and an exploration of trauma and victimhood. Listening, waiting and watching are all integral to the process and transmission of testimony throughout the film.
