The Five Legged Rabbit

Directed by Ismail Ymeri

This movie is set at the start of World War II, with little shepherds on the green slopes of an Albanian mountain range featured as intrigued, distant observers of the Italian army and their prey, the partisan fighters who are hiding in the homes of the villagers. Even the Albanian police who are supposed to be helping the Italians do not betray the resistance fighters when they see them. The children watch as the hunter and hunted play out their drama below, not understanding that the scenes are more real than their own hunt for the five-legged rabbit that is supposed to be living in these hills. As the tragedies of war mount, the children start to become more involved - at one point they steal the weapons from some drunken Italian soldiers, nearly leading to a disaster on their part. Time and events rapidly unfold, and it soon becomes apparent that their innocence will not last for long because their own existence is threatened in a way they are just beginning to understand.