Mother(s) of the mountains will always be there

I'm still here, he said. Race waving to the helicopter flying over Sinjajevina. That Sinjajevina, that mountain is her home, her mother, her strength and her hope. Nada.

“The Mountain” is also the title of a documentary that has been sailing around the world since January, and whose heroines are Gara and Nada - mother and daughter. And, of course, their Sinjajevina.

Finally, after a series of screenings and prestigious awards, most notably the Grand Jury Prize for Best International Documentary Film at one of the world's most important festivals - Sundance, "The Mountain" was also shown at home - in Montenegro, in Podgorica - where else but at the UnderhillFest International Documentary Film Festival.

At the opening of Underhill, "The Mountain" was a spectacle in itself, even on a crowded basketball court in Njegošev Park, in front of perhaps a thousand people, with the presence of part of the creative team and the heroines themselves.

Author duo Biljana Tutorov i Petar Glomazic shared his work with the domestic audience, to mutual joy, impatience and curiosity. And their work, one could say, is actually not just a film, nor a story about Sinyajevina, about struggle, about coexistence with nature, but their work is a depiction of life Mileva Gara Jovanovic i Nade Stanisic which stopped at a little over two hours.

Tutorov and Glomazić demonstrated a perfect ear and a filigree approach to weaving a great story, but also to cinematic creativity, displaying their knowledge, skill, but also humanity and moral and ethical values.

The story is set in the remote heights of Sinjajevina, the largest pastureland in the Balkans, where a mother and daughter proudly defend their mountain and nomadic herding tradition, or the culture of raising cattle, from the formation of a NATO military training ground. The well-known struggle of the katun people and civil activists began about eight years ago, when the film was shot. In September 2019, the first international military exercise was held in Sinjajevina - in the heart of the pasture, without prior consultation with the herding communities that have used the pasture for centuries, from which they live and feed.

"Gara, a mother of six children, a leader of the local community in the fight to protect the mountain, and her youngest daughter Nada, are fighting two important life battles - an ecological one, for the preservation of nature, and a personal, family one - confronting patriarchy and violence against women," the film's synopsis previously highlighted.

“The Mountain,” however, brings many more layers, ups and downs, valleys, dangers and challenges. Although it has elements of an activist film, as it witnesses the fight against the military training ground, NATO and the political system itself that does not listen to those distant from interests and centers of power, “The Mountain” is incomparably more than that.

Layers and layers of themes will unfold during the viewing like the thinnest, transparent sheets of beautiful, white, flaky cheese. Thus, on the pastures of Sinjajevina we see much more than a mountain story, life on the slopes, family drama and love... Before the viewers is all the possible complexity of living an indescribable and unimaginable life destiny, which we unwind just like a film strip.

"The Mountain" is a story about belonging, about home, strength, strength, about shoulders, back, about love, care, history, trauma, a story about heritage, culture, identity, about nature, beauty, unpredictability, about feminism, about activism, about community, struggle, about family...

“The Mountain” is a story about mothers, about mothers and daughters, about mothers and mothers, those mothers who are gone but are forever there. This is a story about women, about love, survival and hope. Thanks to the sensibility of Tutorov and Glomazić, Gara and Nada gave us the opportunity to experience and feel all of this through them, and to truly live the film.

Gara definitely carries the film with her strength that does not demand attention and does not need to be emphasized. We see her in all those everyday duties and activities that are completely foreign to many, including the majority of the Underhill audience. Cattle breeding, cheese making, hand washing, even a wolf fight and what not... In her gaze and her hands, you can see the struggle, feel the time, smell the beauty and touch the care. She is a mother, but also a mountain woman. She is a protector. A heroine who would probably never call herself that. A true, free cowgirl on her horse and land, Gara brings the atmosphere of a western to the slopes of Montenegrin Sinjajevina... She protects and defends the mountain and the community, opposing those more powerful than herself, the most powerful in the system, and remains upright in the face of forces that seem invincible. She becomes a synonym for struggle and victory. At the same time, she protects and defends herself and her family, her children, the young Nada with whom she has a special relationship. We witness expressions of love, tenderness, attention, with a touch of good humor, but occasionally concern... And herself strong, brave, persistent and firm as a mountain, as a mother. Gara becomes synonymous with all of this, but also with Sinjajevina... Mother-Mountain.

The film is a story about Gara, but also about Gara and Nadia, undoubtedly about Sinjajevina, but also about all those women who history did not record. Who stayed, greeted, accompanied, worked, suffered, remained silent, suffered, protected - families, culture, country, memory... It is also interesting that there are almost no men in the film - only a few of them, for a moment. But we feel their presence through the consequences of their decisions, through absence, through pain or memory. In contrast, the entire world (of the film and Sinjajevina) is carried by women.

And Nada - Nada is hope. Nada is a daughter who grows up, matures and learns life between tenderness and cruelty. From birth, faced with both sides, with longing, missing, with an unquenchable desire, emptiness. Despite this, she is full of love and respect for what she has, youthful beauty and energy, but also premature maturity. Lively, with a light step, quiet words, a bright look, like the wind on Sinjajevina. The film was shot over seven years, and as time passes, we witness how Nada grows up, how the girl becomes a girl, and then a girl, stronger, more solid, more beautiful and gentler, wiser.

And Sinjajevina. Space, mountain, time, dimension, but also a character in itself. Nature, home, heritage, love, gift, wealth, rare in Montenegro, the Balkans, Europe and beyond. Fantastic camera of the director of photography Eve Kraljevic introduces us to the vast fields of space that seem to be from another world. The infinities, beauties, sunrises and sunsets, flowering, leafing and endless fields of pastures are a testimony to life and home. Kraljević's camera fully depicts Sinjajevina as a living being. On the other hand, wide shots of landscapes and pastures alternate with cramped interiors of huts, creating a strong contrast between the freedom of space and the weight of life that takes place in that space. Each frame seems like a carefully composed painting created with a precise brush and paint on canvas, imagined in the eye of a great master.

The atmosphere brought by the authors is almost tangible, we can deeply feel every frame, action, and movement. We hear the whistles of the mountains, the shouts with which the herders communicate with their livestock, we feel the gusts of wind, the cold of the heights, and the silence that sometimes speaks louder than any spoken word, we smell the scent, we feel the purity and spaciousness, we taste the cheese and the skorup, our muscles ache from the constant work but there is no time for it, we fear bears and wolves, we worry about the cats, cows, dogs, children, Gara, her friends from the Katun, we worry about Sinjajevina and numerous other localities that we hope will not have to defend themselves from some new crazy ideas...

"The mountain will always be there," thanks to Gara. She is used to fighting and winning - at all costs. She reminded each of the viewers around the world, and in Podgorica, that the greatest battles are often fought far from the public spotlight, but when necessary - in front of them. She showed that love is truly the greatest strength, but also that courage, strength and tenderness are much closer than we think.

The story of Gara and Nada has long since crossed the borders of Sinjajevina. It has traveled from Montenegro to America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand... Gara, Nada and Sinjajevina are traveling the world, thanks to the entire film's creative team, which ultimately reminds us of who we are, what we are made of, what we defend and how much we are worth.

Thunderous applause, standing ovations, tears, emotions, trembling, and then another round of applause followed the screening, especially when Tutorov and Glomazić took the stage, followed by the rest of the crew, and then the true heroines - Gara and Nada. It is clear - contemporary Montenegrin cinema has definitely received its masterpiece. At the same time poetic and political, intimate and universal, gentle and strong... A work whose name speaks for itself. "The Mountain", or "To Hold a Mountain".

And Mileva Gara Jovanović remains what she was from the first frame of her life to the last frame of the film - the heroine of heroines. "Still going." She and her Nada.