Pitch

Shkodër, North Albania. In 1991 Luce’s son was murdered. Exploring the turmoil the country went through along with the personal and spiritual experience of this woman who chose to forgive the man who murdered her son, thus following the “Besa” specified in Lek Dukagjin’s Kanun, we will move along the historical, religious and social path of today’s Albania. Today the “forgiven” sees Luce as a “mother”: thanks to her he has been totally rehabilitated in the eyes of society! Luce has now become a peace mediator to help other families involved in a process of  “blood justice”.

Synopsis

In 1991 Albania suddenly found itself with unlimited freedom and no landmark. The murder of Arjani, Luce’s son, took place in this atmosphere of turmoil and spiritual emptiness.

To avoid vengeance Luce had to fight against those who diverted the articles of the Kanun and used them to their own profit, talking endlessly about blood (vengeance) and “forgetting” the alternative of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Luce introduces us to the less well known, yet most modern and innovative aspects of the Kanun: Besa and Pajtimi.

Through her Pajtimi, a true ritual of blood reconciliation between her family and Sokol’s family (the murderer) and the private archive footage we have, we will be able to experience the most intense moments when these families “at war” make their “peace” at last.

On the one hand the documentary shows us the consequences of this reconciliation: Luce’s relationship with Sokol today, the gratitude, admiration and remarkable serenity that pervade each of their encounters. On the other hand we follow Luce in her role as a peace mediator as she helps other families “in blood”.

Subject

In 1991 Luce's son got involontarily involved in a quarrel and got killed. By banning religion and the Kanun – the Albanian customary code – communist dictator Enver Hoxha annihilated the identity of his people to build the New Man who would serve his doctrine. Half a century of this absolute power left a very deep wound that will be difficult to heal. After the fall of the dictator the spiritual emptiness and lack of a strong State caused the resurgence of "blood justice".

In a country where revenge had become common matter Luce accepted to talk with a peace mediator sent by the killer's family to ask for forgiveness. A long process, which in 1999 put Luce in the same room as the killer and his family, following a ritual of reconciliation described by the Kanun: Luce and her two sons forgave the culprit and promised before God that blood would never be shed again between their two families.

This act of love, which means "I forgive you and I forget all the pain you caused me", provided the killer with the opportunity to start a new life with his wife and children while allowing Luce and her family to live a peaceful life.

A profound relationship has built between them: they meet, help each other and celebrate their respective holidays together. Their story reveals the transformation this act of forgiveness brought upon their lives.

Today peace missionaries and priests often call Luce to help families who are going through this tragedy of vengeance. Thanks to her experience Luce takes on this work as a peace mediator with the same spirit of love.

Against this background we explore the traditions of a people trying to recover its lost identity. After the fall of the dictatorship the citizen's exaltation slowly vanished and a sort of schizophrenia remained. Religion reappeared, so did the Kanun. But the latter was falsely interpreted, according to everyone's needs and desires, misused, as an instrument to justify all sorts of crimes. The Albanian mafia took hold of and transformed its code into a kind of ideological bible to organise blood clans.

Yet Luce shows that the authentic spirit of the Kanun encourages reconciliation much more than murder and vengeance. To reach pardon, to put an end to her conflicts with her family and society at large she takes us along a course that is filled with humanity. She reminds us of the most modern and positive elements of the Kanun like Reconciliation and Besa (truce, promise, act of faith). Luce introduces us to another facet of this people recovering its individuality and freedom.

She casts a new light on a country filled with extraordinary people, a country looking for the identity it lost in the fifty years of Enver Hoxha's communist and autarkic dictatorship.

In short : This project of a social and religious nature goes far beyond the typical image of Albania, usually conveyed by the media. Through Luce’s story that embodies various aspects of the Albanian contemporary reality, we discover people that try to recover their identity, lost during the 50 years of communist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha