“An audacious offering from a director who is gradually finding his niche as a storyteller.”

It is impossible to visit Bosnia and Herzegovina without being constantly reminded of their storied past – and the locals ensure that their history is never forgotten. There is a scene early in When Santa Was a Communist, the fourth feature film by Emir Kapetanović, where a Bosnian remarks to an American tourist “the best part of our national monuments is that we build new ones every fifty years” – and what they are looking at it is not a grandiose statue or work of incredible architecture, but an apartment building entirely annihilated during the country’s dark past that saw constant conflict and warfare in nearly every corner. These characters are an acting troupe travelling through the country, planning to visit small towns in which they will put on shows for the local children in the hopes of uniting them via their shared love for the jolly figure that is Santa Claus. They believe he is capable of bringing these communities together, despite his origins and continued presence in Christianity. A charming and quaint comedy that is genuinely heartfelt while still offering bold insights into the past, When Santa Was a Communist is an audacious offering from a director who is gradually finding his niche as a storyteller, and with the exception of a few notable narrative and tonal shortcomings indicates that Kapetanović is well on his way to becoming a fascinating voice in contemporary cinema, at least in terms of binding together different genres and telling a heartfelt story that is both informative and deeply resonant.

The Bosnian War was recent enough for it to still linger heavily on just about every work produced in or about the country, even those that don’t set out to address it directly. Kapetanović was not focused on making yet another film about generational trauma and the wounds these communities carry with them, but rather a more forward-looking, earnest depiction of those who are truly attempting to heal the country, which has proven to be a far more intimidating endeavour than many would expect. This particular story executed in a specific way indicates precisely what the director was hoping to achieve, the act of plumbing the depths of a culture’s harsh history in order to find joy and hope within – the past is not always a place where such optimistic views are honoured, but due to the generous spirit with which the director approaches When Santa Was a Communist and its characters, we can start to see how important it is to utilize humour as a tool to explore trauma. The film is set up as a road film, following the characters as they travel through a few different towns, running into obstacles in nearly every one but staying resilient in their efforts to look beyond their own personal inconvenience and instead focus on the more important task. This forms the foundation for a touching, earnest examination of the human condition and those dedicated to showcasing its most optimistic traits.

When Santa Was a Communist may be driven by a ramshackle charm that will appeal to those with a penchant for the more unconventional styles of comedy, but we soon find ourselves wondering if there is enough here to sustain the entire film. There is a sense of quaintness that persists throughout the film that sometimes comes across as forced – the story is already compelling enough, but the efforts to reconfigure some of it to feel slightly more eccentric detract from its importance. Comedy can be used to address difficult issues without having to default to twee idiosyncrasy, especially when the narrative is strong enough without these elements. It undeniably has the purest of intentions, but some of its development is limited, frequently veering towards the softhearted and sentimental as a way of softening the emotional blow of the more austere moments. These are unsurprisingly the most moving sequences, since they reveal not only the real situation in the country and how people continue to be divided over previous events, but also the efforts of those who strive to make a genuine change. Configuring this film as a comedy was an interesting choice, and not entirely unwelcome – the off-kilter sense of humour and somewhat peculiar approach to the characters is extremely compelling, but it begins to falter when it comes to putting these audacious ideas into practice. This does not always succeed as well as it does in some of the other moments in which the film is far more engaging.

One should not be misled – despite its cheerful title there is nothing particularly festive about When Santa Was a Communist, at least in the sense that we don’t necessarily receive the exact kind of humour and irreverent charm we would expect. Instead, the director carefully crafts a hard-hitting and sometimes extraordinarily bleak film about a group of individuals doing what they can to heal a country that continues to carry such immense pain, hoping to offer some remedy for the scars of the past that still haunt an entire nation and divide its population. Told through the perspective of a motley crew of lovably eccentric artists who attempt to restore the country through the power of imagination but have even their own ambitions tested by a deeply fractured nation, the film contains a poignant message right at its core, one that Kapetanović does capture with sincerity and a mindfulness we don’t often find with the more comedic approaches to exploring the past. Bittersweet in some parts, and bombastic in others, the film does its best to find a balance between tonal shifts, and while it’s not always successful the strong sense of place and the director choosing to craft this meaningful whistle-stop tour of the harsh history of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a way that is honest but optimistic does earn our admiration, even if a slightly sharper attention to detail would have elevated the film substantially.