Review: Safe Area Gorazde

Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco


Safe Area Gorazde (pronounced gor-ajh-DUH) is Joe Sacco's documentary style graphic novel about the Bosnian wars which occurred in the early to mid-nineties. Safe Area Gorazde reminded me of Palestine as Sacco uses the same techniques to gather information and to tell his story.

During the 90's Sacco made several trips into the UN designated "Safe Area" Gorazde to meet the people there and to hear their stories. Bosnian Muslims were forced to fight off starvation, isolation, and enemy troops while trying to carry on some semblance of a normal life despite living in a town deep behind enemy lines.

Sacco interviews a wide variety of people in the town of Gorazde, but for me, the most gripping parts occurred when Sacco interviewed various soldiers of the town who had fought on the front lines and told him stories of the brutal fighting happening often only a few kilometers away. The brutality and the tactics used by the Chetnik soldiers against the townsfolk of Gorazde, who were outgunned, outnumbered and virtually defenseless often left me feeling ill and shaken.

Sacco does a good job of giving the reader a bit of the historical backdrop as well as the politics involved. I learned as I read, because even though this war occurred while I was a teen, I didn't remember many of the details, and certain aspects were completely new to me.

There were many times while I was reading Safe Area Gorazde that I caught myself comparing it to Palestine. I caught myself comparing the severity of the two struggles, the suffering of the people involved, trying to decide which situation was worse until I eventually realized that trying to make that judgement isn't fair. It isn't fair for me to judge one tragedy against another. There isn't a measuring stick for human tragedy, and the circumstances that took place in Gorazde and Palestine are downright terrible regardless. Sacco makes this abundantly clear. Not only is it clear from the first hand accounts he collects from his interviews, but also with the artwork on the pages.

Sacco uses black and white artwork with incredible detail to help tell the story.
Safe Area Gorazde is a graphic novel that sticks, and the art has a lot to do with that. I think that with just words, the story loses the impact that Sacco is able to convey by including art work that takes no prisoners and shows (often with lurid detail) the brutality the people of Gorazde faced. Sacco doesn't pull any punches, and Safe Area Gorazde does a great job of detailing the Bosnian war from one forgotten town's perspective.

Grade: A-

Battle Hymns has been cranking out a fair amount of Joe Sacco related material lately, as Palestine was my favorite graphic novel from 2009, and I also saw Sacco this past week at an author event. Safe Area Gorazde should wrap up my Joe Sacco binge however. Expect to see more Graphic Novel related material here in the future, eventually covering some different styles in the meduim.

Author Event: Joe Sacco

Last night at the town hall here in Seattle, I attended an author discussion/book signing with Joe Sacco. (Author of Palestine, my favorite graphic novel of '09). Sacco started the night off with a presentation of his new work, a graphic novel called Footnotes From Gaza.

During his presentation, Sacco described how some of the pages were put together, while discussing the nature of the research he needed to do to get the information which the reader sees on the page. Sacco essentially gets his information from three sources: from UN archives both here in the U.S. and in Israel, newspaper articles, and from interviews with actual witnesses who remember the event. Sacco then uses these three streams of information to parcel out what he feels best represents the truth of the actual situation he is reporting on the page. This was interesting to me, as I have always wondered how he goes about constructing his works. As for much of the artwork, Sacco uses photographs from UN archives and other sources to create the panels.

Sacco's nuts and bolts descriptions of how he goes about his work proved to be the most interesting aspect of the evening for me. His presentation was brief, but I think the experience, for those in attendance, will enhance the reading of his new book.

After the presentation, there was a question/answer portion, where audience members could ask Sacco questions. Two highlights I'll mention here were when one person asked him about the challenge of documenting history, and the present in a comic book, versus doing it on screen in a documentary. Sacco responded that in the comic medium, the adjustment from present to the past is easier because the drawing can look the same from a panel set in the present to one set in the past, and the eyes and brain of the reader can easily make that visual and mental transition, where as in a documentary film, it is often hard to make that jump, and it often requires changes in the lighting, set, clothing and so on. I liked this description, as I feel Sacco uses the art aspect of the comic medium well to tell his story, and have it flow seamlessly, something not as easily achieved if a person were to attempt the same in a documentary style film.

The second highlight from this portion of the evening came when an Egyptian Arab man came up to the microphone and expressed his frustration with U.S. policy in the Israel/Palestine region. His statements were in context to some of the other questions Sacco had been asked about U.S. activity in that region and what direction Sacco thought things were heading there as well, and the man expressed his concerns on a more intimate level as one who perhaps has felt the effects of U.S. involvement in that region. The man spoke with conviction about his point of view, and his opinion of where things were going in that region were met with a very negative reaction from the crowd. Despite my seat near the front of the auditorium, I witnessed several groups of people, (mostly white) leave the room as he spoke. I could be wrong here, but I thought it was quite silly and also sad that because an Arab man speaks his opinion, white people left the room because of fears and prejudices that surround Arab males these days. In credit to Joe Sacco, he handled the situation well, politely listening to the man, and responding with an "Let's hope not, let's hope not." As the man predicted more troubles and strife in that region.

Often when I go to author events, I am left with the feeling that the author has somehow let me down or that the person has somehow failed to live up in real life to the person I imagine them to be when I am reading his/her work. There is a good chance this is more a personal failing on my part than on the author's, but regardless, it happens. Sacco is an interesting person, and through his work I have learned, and my life has been enriched, but I must have expected more from the man. I don't want anyone to take that in the wrong way however, as Sacco still deserves much credit for his work, and I am grateful for how his work has enriched my life. As a person he deserves credit for the effort he puts into his art and for the way he documents the lives of people in the areas he visits. In this instance though, Sacco failed to inspire me as a person in the same way that he inspires me with his work. There wasn't a specific instance I can point to that made me feel this way, I think I expected to see more acknowledgment on his part of how his art can effect and inspire people to create change. In some ways I just got the feeling he was there simply to sell books. Maybe this just wasn't the proper setting for Sacco to be inspiring. All in all it was an interesting and entertaining evening.

I expect to be reading more of Sacco's work in the future, so look for a Safe Area Gorazde review sometime in the future.

Favorite Graphic Novel of '09

I think a lot of people my age view comics, or graphic novels, with a fairly large degree of scorn.  They are something read as a child, or that part of the newspaper you glance at while on a coffee break... or while you take a dump.  This is an unfortunate state of mind though, because there is a lot of great stuff out there in the graphic novel medium.  Great reads and as a bonus: pictures too!

In many ways 2009 was the year of the graphic novel for me.  I went from hardly ever reading any, to reading them on a fairly regular basis.  Of all the comics I read this year, (around 25), one stands out above them all.

Palestine by Joe Sacco

In this comic, set during the early 90's,  the author, and artist, Joe Sacco, travels to Israeli occupied Palestine to research and interview people for his comic.  Throughout the comic what you get are first hand interviews with Palestinians who have experienced the hardship and terror of their struggle with Israel.  Sacco hears a wide variety of stories, and he somewhat ruthlessly collects these tales in order to create the comic he wishes to write.  Sacco makes it very clear from the get-go that he is not trying to give "both sides" of the story as he assumes that his American readers will be familiar with the Israeli's side.  What you get instead is an eye opening perspective from the Palestinian view point.

I will admit that prior to reading this book, I knew little about the Palestinian/Israeli struggle.  What I did know came from our very one sided American news sources that have almost always told me that Israel is "good" and Palestine is "bad" (more recently that they are terrorists).  While I am smart enough to know that things are rarely, if ever, that cut and dry, I honestly wasn't very aware of the alternate perspective. This book opened my mind and taught me a few things.  For that reason, this was a great book, but it was great for other reasons as well.  Sacco collected some amazing and often heartbreaking stories from the people he interviewed.  Alongside and infused with the stories are Sacco's fantastically detailed black and white illustrations which really bring the people, and setting to life.  Palestine is a complete visual and mental experience.  It manages to be informative, entertaining, and genuine all at the same time, and I really consider it a must read for everybody.