The Brooklyn Connection – How to Build a Guerilla Army


Synopsis
This short documentary follows Florin Krasniqi, a Kosovar nationalist living in New York City, in his quest to provide military supplies to the Kosovo Liberation Army after the death of his cousin at the hands of the Serb-dominated Yugoslavian army. (NR, 2005)


Observations
Florin Krasniqi is a man with a mission – to arm the resistance. Krasniqi is grass-roots at it’s very purest. He hosts fund-raisers; he shops at the local army surplus store, he travels to Pennsylvania to buy guns for “elephant hunting.” Krasniqi writes checks to politicians like it’s his job -- thousand here, two thousand there – all with the intention of raising awareness of the cause of his homeland. It was interesting to watch someone use the liberties we have as Americans to prepare an overseas army. He buys huge guns, then takes them on airplanes (legally sometimes, suspect methods other times) and smuggles them across the Albanian border into Kosovo. Then he raises some more money and does it again.

Though this film covered an interesting person and an interesting situation, it didn’t do it in a very interesting way. The footage was poorly produced; there were no graphics and very little action. And it would have been interesting to know a little more about Krasniqi. How did he get here while his family stayed behind?

Krasniqi is the Harriet Tubman of Kosovo refugees, getting them to the United States after they have fought with the resistance and giving them back-breaking jobs with his roofing company.

It’s always interesting to see someone dangle precariously when faced with moral questions. The filmmaker questions Krasniqi several times trying to figure out how he rationalizes the civilians who could be being killed with the weapons he is working to transport. He claims that he himself has never killed another person, but who knows? Krasniqi and his cronies probably scoff at the American idea of patriotism – bumper stickers, call-in talk shows and front-porch flags blowing tranquilly in the breeze of oblivion. Krasniqi is a different kind of patriot, one who uses his wealth and resources to create an army that will liberate a nation few Americans could identify on a map.

Rating:
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