'The Trap' draws viewer in

  Visitors to the Sun Cinema Series this month will yet again be granted relief from the simplistic moral equations of the Hollywood industry.

  “The Trap” will be shown at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Historic Yuma Theatre, 254 S. Main St. The screening, part of The Sun Cinema Series, includes an independent short film and a hosted discussion. Language is Serbo-Croatian with English subtitles. Run time of the feature is 115 minutes; admission is $3.

  Most of us fall easily into the “trap” of judging others harshly for their sins from a distance. “The Trap” is one of those films that force us to wonder what we ourselves would do if we were in the other fellow's shoes - if we had to choose between committing a heinous act and watching our child die.

Counting blessings

  Mladen is a pretty ordinary guy. He's a Serbian civil engineer who works in the capital of Belgrade as a field boss for a state-owned company that's gone pretty much dormant.

  The crew shows up every day mostly just to create the illusion that the business is still viable, hoping that a certain Belgian corporation will buy them up and get them going again. Mostly their days are punctuated with trips to the canteen for a shot of vodka.

  Mladen and his pretty wife live in a modest apartment and drive a little red Yugo, but they're happy enough. Their 10-year-old son, Nemanja, wishes he could have a cell phone so he could text back and forth in class, like all his schoolmates; but at least he doesn't have to stand around at intersections and wash windshields.

  About the worst Mladen normally has to suffer is wounded pride when he takes Nemanja to the park only to be snubbed by the bratty daughter of a rich and glamorous neighbor woman. But when Nemanja has a seizure at school, a different reality sets in.
At what price?

  Nemanja has a serious heart ailment, not covered by insurance, that will require immediate surgery abroad. Predictably, relations between the parents are strained as they blame themselves and each other for their helplessness.

  One of their acquaintances has just bought a picture frame worth the entire cost of the surgery - just the frame, not the picture. But it doesn't help to lament life's injustices. The parents swallow their pride and advertise in the newspapers for donations.

  It's a long shot because so many other people are in the same situation. Finally, one offer comes in - for the full amount. It sounds too good to be true, and of course it is.

  Mladen goes to meet the benefactor for coffee. The deal is that Mladen has to kill a man. Although it's evidently an unscrupulous businessman whom no one will miss, Mladen can't do it. But will he reconsider after Nemanja has another seizure or two?

A bruised region

  The backdrop for Mladen's bleak dilemma is a particular moment in European history. We see Serbia in a period of transition - still bruised by the recent years of turmoil following the disintegration of the mother country, Yugoslavia. Guilt over the atrocities of the Balkan Wars, much of them overseen by former Federal Yugoslav President Miloevi, is still fresh in the national consciousness.

  True, a hint of prosperity has finally come. Serbia has come to be called the “Balkan tiger” because of its growth compared to the neighboring countries. But moral ambiguities have arisen since capitalism rushed into the void left by the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.

  With economic freedom has come a blurring of lines between enterprise and organized crime similar to the one that plagued Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. Along with increased prosperity also seems to have come increased disparity - between rich and poor, between the ethical and the ruthless.

  In the gray winter chill of a country struggling to its feet, a hint of anarchy lies just behind the veneer of civilization.