The Tribunal – Storm (2009)

Directed by: Hans-Christian Schmid | 110 minutes | drama | Actors: Kerry Fox, Anamaria Marinca, Stephen Dillane, Rolf Lassgård, Alexander Fehling, Tarik Filipovic, Kresimir Mikic, Steven Scharf, Joel Eisenblätter, Wine Dierickx, Reinout Bussemaker, Bent Mejding, Alexis Zegerman, Arturo Venegas, Drazen Kuhn, Nadezda Perisic Nola, Arijana Cigura, Sara Hadzibajric, Jadranka Djokic, Emina Muftic, Izudin Bajrovic, Leon Lucev, Marinko Prga, Monique Wilsterman, Martijn Nieuwerf, Dimme Treurniet, Jesper Christensen

‘The Tribunal’ is a mixture of a political thriller with a documentary-like approach at times. The film shows the tense relationships between feelings of justice, the actual judiciary and the influence on this of the weighty political interests of major international consultative bodies. They mainly want to calm tense and still explosively charged relations in countries that they want to pilot into the European Union. The film won awards at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival and the Amnesty Film Festival.

The story begins innocently with images of a happy family. A man plays with his children on the beach in Spain. Everything seems smooth and peaceful. He obviously has something on his mind because when he notices that he is being followed, he panics and races away with his car. Then his arrest takes place at night by a special counter-terrorist unit. That man is Goran Duric, a former commander of the Yugoslav National Army. Then the story jumps three years further in time. Duric is detained in The Hague awaiting trial at the International Court. Prosecutor Hannah Maynard (Kerry Fox) is assigned the case and it seems like a piece of cake. There are meters of files of evidence and there is a key witness, Alen Hajdarevic (Kresimir Mikic).

However, the lawsuit goes wrong. The statements of witness Hajdaravich appear to be incorrect. Hannah is given a week to do additional research. When an investigation is carried out on the spot in Kasmaj (Bosnia), his statements turn out to be untrue. The whole thing is in danger of collapsing; Goran Duric will have to be released and everyone is busy with damage control to limit the political consequences. Shortly afterwards, Hajdaravich commits suicide. At his funeral, Hannah meets his sister Mira (Anamaria Marinca) who knows more about Duric but refuses to talk. Mira is afraid of the still powerful Serbian nationalists who threaten her. Local politicians are also displeased with the search for the deeds of Duric (in their eyes a national hero). Mira eventually agrees to testify in The Hague. Suddenly, as a prosecutor, Hannah finds herself in the cross-field – or perhaps more acutely – battlefield of personal integrity and the great international political interests. Dark machinations in the background combined with vulgar horse trading turn against her. How should she deal with the interests of the witness Mira and all the principles she firmly believes in?

In the film, the story focuses almost entirely on the characters of Hannah and Mira, Duric also plays a minor role in the story. Anamaria Marinca (Mira) has already made a big impression with her role in the Romanian film ‘4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days’ and is impressive again. Kerry Fox’s playing as Hannah is also convincing. This is less true for a few supporting roles. Some of the twists and turns in the scenario seem a bit artificial. Lady Justice should (should) be blindfolded according to generally accepted ethical views. In the day-to-day performance she is sometimes a little blind or is blinded. That is also the very convincing part of the film. The atmosphere of political pressure and blackmail and the ordinary horse trading behind the scenes make the interests of the judicial process and the witness subordinate to it. In that sense, the film also has a strong and at the same time cynical message about parts of this jurisdiction. Bookkeepers making cost estimates versus justice? Ultimately, this witness is a pawn on the chessboard of international politics. An educational and instructive fictional look behind the scenes.