Directed by:
Danis TanovićScreenplay:
Danis TanovićCinematography:
Walther Vanden EndeCast:
Branko Djuric, René Bitorajac, Filip Šovagović, Georges Siatidis, Serge-Henri Valcke, Katrin Cartlidge, Bogdan Diklic, Simon Callow, Primoz Petkovsek (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Fleeing enemy fire, an injured Bosnian soldier named Čiki retreats to a trench, where he finds himself trapped with a wounded comrade and worse a Serbian! With no way to escape and with his fellow soldier lying on a spring-loaded bomb set to explode if he moves, Čiki realizes he must do the unthinkable, trust his enemy If he wants to survive. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (8)
I wondered what kind of film could have walked away with Amélie's Oscar. Now I know, and I have to say I haven't seen a film with such a well-written story in a long time. A brilliant black-humour look at the war in Bosnia, the media and the embarrassing role of UNPROFOR. A truly brilliant plot and performances and I bow to director Tanovic for his first feature. I watched it at the SFS and I hope it gets a wider distribution so more people will see it.
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The traditional Balkan school can be found in the style of Danis Tanović. The art of a tragicomic situation that balances on the edge of concrete and metaphor, to display a bleak whole, is typical especially for Emir Kusturica, but Tanović seconds him more than proficiently. At first, the humorous paradox of three men who find themselves in caught between the battle lines of Serbs and Bosnians grows into absurd dimensions of personal and super-personal tragedy, which the "Western" world, immersed in its quasi-messianic role, is unable to comprehend, let alone resolve. No Man's Land can be perceived as a brilliantly filmed intimate drama, but it is far better to see it as a statement of the illogicality of one conflict and the inability of Western civilization to be empathetic. The dismal ending is on par with the strongest moments of Kusturica’s filmography, and it is precisely this fact that makes me give it full marks even after the rather dull introduction. One should not only see No Man's Land, but one should also try to empathize with what one who understands more than the reporters of the mass media tells us without unnecessary nationalist passions.
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I can tell a good anti-war film by how it affects me. If the message doesn't hit me hard, it's just a waste of financial resources. The creators of this film didn't waste any, and the message hit hard. I could hardly find a better depiction of the senselessness of war. There is no doubt that soldiers essentially function as a group of armed tourists, and although there are capable and determined people among them, their leadership cancels them out. If the story didn't take place outdoors, it could have been considered a chamber film. However, the story was so intense that it easily beats many so-called blockbusters. / "Maybe you could get a close of them clearing the mine." / Lesson learned: There are situations you can't get out of, even if you tried so hard you shit yourself.
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At first glance, it's quite a simple film that tries to show how insane war actually is, how senseless it is, and what it can awaken in people if they don't have a strong enough will or simply if they find themselves in an unpredictable situation. And it doesn't just apply to soldiers, it applies to civilians and reporters as well.
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