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Dir: Danis Tanovic
By Matej Vujasinovic
The debut film by Bosnian writer and director Danis Tanovic is one of the most recognized movies to have come from the Balkans. Its outstanding plot reveals the absurdity of war in general and gives a great insight into a heavy war happening in the early 90’s in Bosnia, during the collapse of Yugoslavia. The film succeeded in winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2001 and the special jury prize for Best Screenplay in the Cannes Film Festival.
Bosnian soldier Ciki and Bosnian Serb Nino find themselves in the middle of the battlefield between front lines of soldiers from both sides in the no man’s land. A land that is not conquered yet and is empty of soldiers. Out of here, on the battlefield, they would be enemies, aiming their guns at each other’s heads. But by struggling to survive, they end up under different circumstances, forced not to kill each other, as it seems the only way for them to stay safe from enemies of both sides, observing the no man’s land from the distance. Expecting everything to calm down with the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) arrival, the film only surprises us once more with new conflicts and shows us the organisation that aims to provide peace from the perspective of soldiers involved in a war.
In the conversations between Ciki and Nino all wrapped with black humor, a person gets a real sense of the people’s mentality in the Balkans during the war. It is a great insight into what happens when leaders turn friends into biggest enemies…
A film, that made me laugh and cry in only 98 minutes.
Quote: “I have a gun, you don’t. I’m asking you again. Who started this war?“
Watch the trailer here:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypsnv50Af_I?rel=0]
