The Melon Route

Running time: 89 mins

In times of conflict and desperation, the road to redemption is often discovered through the route of compassion.

Six years following the Balkan War, young army veteran Mirko earns money from the local mafia by smuggling illegal Chinese immigrants over the Sava River, dangerously located on the Croatia and Bosnia/Herzegovina border. Traumatized by his war experience and the loss of his parents to ethnic cleansing, Mirko lives like a hermit in an old decrepit house?chain-smoking his days away and barely speaking. During an immigrant ?delivery? in a downpour, his overloaded skiff capsizes and all but a young Chinese girl drown. He initially rebuffs her attempts to use his house for shelter, but then relents even though her presence as the only witness to the accident puts them both at risk.

Despite their inability to speak to each other, Mirko and the girl develop a common understanding, a respect that grows into affection. Soon he finds himself more involved than he'd planned? yet their only way out is no way out.


Pete Crane

GLOBAL LANDSCAPES: FOCUS ON THE BALKANS