In the wake of the Axis-led Kozara Offensive, the local Serb population is swept into the brutal reality of concentration camps in the Independent State of Croatia. The film follows a ten-year-old girl named Dara Ilić as her world is torn apart by this violence and displacement. She travels with her family as they are marched toward the cattle cars, walking alongside her older brother Jovo and asking questions about why others who look like them are being rounded up as well. A stark, human moment punctuates the horror: a woman in the marching column, carrying her crying baby, makes eye contact with a young Croatian peasant woman working the fields and chooses to leave the baby with her before returning to the line, a small act of mercy in the midst of atrocity.
At a train station fluttering with the Nazi flag, the scene grows grimmer. Father Miroslav Filipović separates the sick and elderly from the rest, and those remaining are forced into the cattle cars. Dara witnesses the unspeakable—those left behind are shot in cold blood as the guards enforce their cruel order. The train then transports Dara, her mother, and two brothers to the Jasenovac concentration camp, while Dara’s father Mile remains in an unseen location, tasked with the grim job of removing and disposing of the dead bodies.
Inside the camp, a nightmarish, almost surreal form of entertainment unfolds. The guards stage a game of musical chairs for visiting German officers, a cruel ritual where prisoners who lose are punished violently—some are slit at the throat with a srbosjek, others bludgeoned with a hammer. The brutality of the environment forces Dara to witness the fragility of life and the constant threat to her family’s safety as they are progressively separated.
As the family is torn apart, Dara’s mother fights to protect her older son, but both are shot by Igor Djordjevic. Dara is left to shoulder the burden of survival for her younger brother, and the two are sent to a special camp designated for women and children. The weight of this responsibility becomes Dara’s guiding purpose: to keep her brother alive amid chaos, deprivation, and the ever-present risk of losing one another forever.
In the midst of this peril, a glimmer of hope appears in the form of a Jewish prisoner named Blankica. With Blankica’s help, Dara begins to plot a path to escape, turning a desperate situation into a campaign of resilience. The film follows Dara’s steadfast resolve as she navigates the horrors of the camps, the fear of capture, and the daunting challenge of ensuring her younger brother’s survival.
Throughout, the story stays grounded in the stark realities of war-time captivity—the separations, the fleeting moments of humanity, and the small acts of courage that illuminate the darkest hours. Dara’s devotion to protecting her brother becomes the compass by which she measures every choice, every risk, and every chance at a future beyond the barbed wire. This is a portrait of endurance and hope set against a landscape of violence, where a young girl’s determination to save her family defines the narrow path toward survival.
