Shok is a 2015 short film (21 minutes) from Kosovo, directed by Jamie Donoghue.
A young man named Petrit is riding in a car in 2015 Kosovo with his friend. The friend stops the car when he sees an old bicycle, abandoned on the road. Petrit catches his friend by surprise, saying that he will take the bicycle and catch up with his friend later. The friend drives away and Petrit follows on the bike.
Cut back some 16-17 years to the late 1990s and Kosovo during the Kosovo War, the last stage in The Yugoslav Wars. Petrit and Oki are boys of about 12, classmates and best friends. Petrit has been earning pocket money by selling cigarette paper to the Serbian soldiers camped outside of town. Oki is wary, saying that Kosovars like them (ethnic Albanians) can't trust Serbs under any circumstances, but Petrit says it will be fine.
Oki is right, as it turns out. Soon after Oki gives Petrit a ride on his bicycle back to the Serb camp, and the Serb soldiers, after buying the cigarette papers, take Oki's bike. Oki is enraged at the loss of his bike, and he and Petrit have a falling out. However, much darker tragedies follow.
Tropes:
- Abandoned Area: The film ends with adult Petrit stopping in his old home town, and finding it empty, some 15+ years after Serbs forcibly expelled all the Kosovar residents.
- Age Cut: In both directions. The prologue ends with Petrit on the bike; the camera swerves down to the front wheel of the bike and swerves back up to show Petrit and Oki, middle-school boys, riding on the bike. At the end of the film there is a tight closeup of Petrit's face, spattered with blood and contorted in fear, as he walks out of town. The film then cuts back to adult Petrit in 2015, staring down the street of his now-abandoned town.
- Based on a True Story: Or so at least claims an opening title card that says "Based on true events."
- Call-Back: The Serb soldier who takes the bike from Oki says he wants it for his nephew. Towards the end of the film as Oki is being marched out of town, he sees a Serb boy riding his bike. He turns to look, and is shot and killed.
- Chekhov's Gun: An actual gun, namely the old pistol that Petrit keeps in his room. Oki takes the pistol and points it at a Serb soldier as that soldier is about to murder Petrit. Oki is too scared to pull the trigger, and as it turns out the gun isn't loaded, but the interruption does save Petrit's life.
- Don't Look Back: One of the Serb soldiers expelling Oki and Petrit's family from the town says that they must go now, and they can't look back, and anyone who does look back will get shot. As the refugees are leaving, Oki sees a Serb boy riding his bike. He turns around and looks, and is shot and killed. The next shot shows Petrit, looking straight ahead as he walks out of town, with Oki's blood spattered on his cheek.
- How We Got Here: After a prologue set in the present day, the story cuts back to the late 1990s and the Kosovo War.
- Innocence Lost: Two boys, best friends who are excited about saving up so they can get bicycles and bike around together, see their lives shattered (and one ended) by war.
- Jitter Cam: Used in the scene where the Serbian soldiers forcibly evict Petrit's family from their little apartment, before marching them out of town forever.
- Silent Treatment: Oki refuses to talk to Petrit for some time after the loss of the bike. The silent treatment lasts until Petrit sticks up for Oki after they are pulled off a school bus, and takes a gun butt to the stomach for his trouble.
- Trashcan Bonfire: A trashcan bonfire is providing light and heat in the ruined building where the Serb soldiers are camped. It makes everything look that much more apocalyptic.
