1970s
In a modest but well-equipped house, an old woman sits at a table to write something. "I sometimes find myself thinking about my life. I remember my childhood years, my wedding and the birth of my children. And of course the war years" the old woman narrates as we watch the images of a familiar story.
Her narration continues: "After World War I, we moved to the town I used to work as a sweeper, so that my two older children would be closer to school. Since the old house was destroyed and half of our neighbors dead, not much kept us in the old village."
Next scene: A scene of a lovely black bag with lavish colorful embroidery. As the bag moves we see that it belongs to the oldest daughter. She and her brother, with his own beautifully decorated bag, are headed towards the school. Their young mother, father and youngest sister wave as they walk away. The mother sheds a tear and smiles proud.
"My husband, as an able-body man, quickly found a job. I did so as well. Although not officially trained as a seamstress, I had many clients satisfied with my work" we hear her voice accompanied by these images. The slightly older mother is taking measurements for a dress. Her youngest, now a teen is helping out eager. "Life was good in our new kingdom. Unfortunately, it didn't last as long."
Next scene: The enemy troops arrive into town to the horror of its inhabitants. As the Nazi's march, the small family is in the crowd with cold expressions, devastated on the inside.
Next scene: A row of locals is placed on a field. Among them is the father, who slouches and looks at the ground. They are made to form a line as the Nazi soldiers ready their guns. They aim and fire. All the local men fall to the ground. In the evening, the mother, now in her 50s, and her son, now a grown man, come to collect him. She taps her lying man on the shoulder and whispers: "It's us." He does not reply at first. When they turn him, the man curls in pain. His ears and stomach are bleeding. They carry him away quickly, so that their countrymen do not see them.
"It took our entire life savings to bribe the enemy soldiers not to kill him. He did survive; however, his ears were permanently damaged because of the close shots."
We see her son staring at his gasping father. His wound is bandaged but he still holds his stomach seeming in bad shape. "I can't believe this!" he says through his teeth and bolts towards the door. His mother jumps after him. Grabbing his hand, she utters: "What are you planning to do?"
He turns letting us see his angry expression and jerks his hand free. The young man takes a shovel to dig out his father's old gun. Terrified, his mother grabs it refusing to let go. "You can't!"
"Look at what they did to him!" he screams. She shushes him. "My son, you have to be smart. Remember what we talked about, you need to make him better..." the mother whispers still holding on to the shovel.
"How can you say that after everything! Is your heart made of stone?!"
"At least my brain works properly. What in the world possessed you to think going to the woods to fight is a good idea. You are a doctor. You are supposed to bring life into the world, not end it" she says persistent.
"Mother, I will treat dad, but after that I am going to the forest to fight Nazis and there is nothing you can do about it" he says getting extremely irritated and amazed by her strong grip. It is too dark in the yard for him to see how red her face has become. "Don't you remember what granny prophesized?" she says staring at him with wide bloodshot eyes.
"Not this again" he turns away and facepalms himself.
"She said, they will give him a gun. They will kill him. Weren't those her exact words?" she snarls pointing her finger.
"Mother, she was a senile old woman. She could have been talking about anybody. Her own sons, for example. Or she could have been talking in general..." the young man retorts.
"Well, I'm not taking any chances" she declares determined. "You take your father and make him better. Do you hear me?"
He opens his mouth to say something but...
"Honestly, it's like you young men think of nothing else but fighting and dying. Find a different way to contribute to the liberation!"
"Mother!"
"If you don't. I am warning you, if you do not do as I say, I will end my life" she says serious making her son smirk.
"You wouldn't" he says confident.
She grabs the sharp shovel and places it under her neck. "I hate doing this to you but you leave me no choice" she says passing her neck over it and cutting her chin.
Her son flinches in terror and begs her to stop. "Please stop. I'll do as you say."
Next scene: It's still dark. As the horse cart carries her husband and begrudging son to safety, we hear her narrate: "It was a good thing to keep close relations with granny's relatives. They accepted my boys without any problems."
Next scene: We see the woman elbow deep in soap and dirty clothes. She wipes her brow frustrated and overwhelmed. "The next three years were a blur. I still had a lot of customers. Some of them were the Nazi officers. I would sometimes even bring their washed clothes to their headquarters." We see her carry a cart of folded white clothing items and passes the gate with ease.
She is in a room stacking clothes when an officer comes in mimicking that he wants his pants mended. She nods and gets her needle ready.
"If you want to know why I wasn't accused as a collaborator after the war...Well, let's just say that it turned out my position was very useful" she narrates as we see her looking surprised as she puts her hand in the pocket. She finds a set of keys. Looking at them confused, the woman quickly tries to make their imprint on some soap while keeping an eye on the door. The young officer shortly returns, tapping his forehead. He checks the pockets, takes the keys and leaves calmly. The woman falls on the chair with a silent 'phew'.
Next scene: Some time later, during the offensive. She walks into the headquarters with the cart as usual. Once inside, a few Serbian soldiers emerge from the cart. One of them is her oldest daughter.
"Goog job mom!" she says and runs with the others. They use the key to find what they need and take the Nazis by surprise.
Next scene: As the battle rages, even more Yugoslav soldiers come. The seamstress hides in the nearby forest, terrified by the fighting but thrilled with her part in it. She smiles proud, peeping from behind a tree and clumsily covers her head with the next round of shots.
Next scene: A few days earlier, during their patron saint day. The elderly couple sits at the table covered in food. They are waiting for their guests. The old man still looks strong, however he had trouble hearing ever since that tragic day. Very soon, there is a knock on the door. She quickly stands up and opens it.
Their oldest daughter comes in with her husband. She is a very successful woman working as an administrator in one of the many socialist factories. Their two children enter. Their youngest daughter comes next with her spouse and three small children. Finally, her son, a gynaecologist in the local hospital, enters with his wife and their small baby. He hugs her and kisses her three times, before the woman quickly turns to her youngest grandchild. The family spends a wonderful evening, eating and chatting.
The oldest daughter, seeing her brother enjoying the roast, giggles and yells the way he did a long time ago: "Finally, some real food." Her mother almost spits out her food laughing. He looks at them annoyed not believing it still stuck. His youngest sister chuckles, still not understanding the joke.
Next scene: The old grandmother is at the table. She finishes writing and gives it to her husband to read because it was easier that yelling into his ears all the time. That night, they get ready for bed. As she lays down we hear her narrate. "All in all, it was a good life" we hear as she goes to sleep.
