The Anatomy of Evil

For this film essay, the Danish director Ove Nyholm researched human evil and looked for an answer to questions like these: what are a mass murderer's motivations in a situation of war? And after the genocide, how does he manage to return to life as usual, as if nothing happened? A number of executioners divulge their bloody tales: a Serbian paramilitary says he would go crazy if he tried to recall every murder. A Serbian member of the special police tells how they opened fire on a house full of people. "Afterwards we got drunk, and that was that." Nyholm also draws parallels with Hitler's Einsatz troops, who wreaked havoc on the Eastern Front in World War II. A former Einsatz commander and ex-teacher explains how they executed people most efficiently: women were forced to hold their children against their chest, so two people could be killed with a single bullet. His justification for his deeds: orders are orders. Defending herself at the International Tribunal in The Hague, the Bosnian-Serbian politician Biljana Plavsic said she simply did not believe the reports about inhumane acts, as she thought Serbs were incapable of committing them. In light of these accounts, Nyholm ultimately formulates the line that lies at the basis of genocide: "You have to die, so I can live."