LOCARNO 2023 Review. The lands are empty. There are hardly any livestock visible. The roads and houses are torn apart. The winters wreak the dread of emptiness. War-weary soldiers carry rifles to hunt like helpless undead. Wide shots of isolated woods induce a quarantined vibe, and high-angle shots of exhumed graves spill open old wounds of war. And the remaining population struggles for necessities. Ten years of Balkan Wars have left the region in pieces. Regional rivalries, the rise of warlords, and years of gunfights and conflicts have left the land in fear and apprehension. This is the backdrop of Fisnik Maxville’s The Land Within.
Cinematographer Yann Maritaud’s camera tries to capture all the intense imagery, which has a substantial calling to both the film’s thematic backdrop as well as the personal story it unravels. The photographic expressions observed in The Land Within show that Maxville has a strong sense of visual storytelling. An opening textual introduction makes the audience aware of the war-ridden setting and its lasting impacts on the people in the region – and Maxville successfully raises the subsequent tension in the atmosphere and reflects the trauma, claustrophobia, and loneliness caused by it.

“…returns to his adoptive cousin Una, who was left to deal with a war-torn atmosphere in the Balkans.”
While the backdrop and cinematography fill in with the film’s narrative style, tone, and background, there is a personal arc that Maxville intends to use to communicate with the audience here. Remo was adopted into the family by Skender fifteen years before the war broke the region. Remo (Florist Bajgora) found his way into a humanitarian camp, leading him to find asylum in Geneva, where he has remained for a decade. With Skender on his deathbed, Remo revisits his town to a cold response from Skender’s daughter, Una (Luàna Bajrami). Now, he must confront his past and regain his lost identity and connection to his motherland.
Remo and Una are the two protagonists who resonate with different emotions and feelings associated with the psyche of war, tragedy, and trauma. Una was left behind in a war-torn country and was forced to take up arms as a teenager. Her personality was built upon conflict, leading her to isolation and loneliness. On the other hand, Remo, who unknowingly left town at the brink of war, feels the guilt of abandonment and has lived an equally traumatic life.