All-time Highest Graded Films
Highest Graded Films of 2001
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Since 06/09/00
Set in 1993 during the Serbian-Bosnian civil war, a trench between the two sides ends up with a Serb and a Bosnian. Both are wounded soldiers who are alternately at each other's throats. Since neither offers any noticeably redeeming qualities, one almost hopes that they aren't rescued.
Director Danis Tanovic (of Bosnian heritage) maintains his objectivity by making both sides look bad, which actually might be the correct perspective. But he doesn't stop there. The U.N. 'peacemakers' are made out to be cynical and apathetic. They are led by Colonel Soft (Simon Callow, the film's most famililar face), whose constant companion is his blank-faced and long-legged presumed mistress.
Three sympathetic personalities eventually emerge. Cera (Filip Sovagovic) is a soldier who awakes to learn that a mine is booby-trapped beneath him. Sgt. Marchand (Georges Siatidis) is a U.N. soldier actively concerned with helping the wounded soldiers. Finally, Jane Livingston (British actress Katrin Cartlidge, 1961-2001) is a television journalist whose ambitions at least prod the U.N. forces into action.
But whatever interest these positive characters add to the story, the negative characters take it away. The lead soldiers, played by Branko Djuric and Rene Bitorajac, are especially repellent. While pessimism can be effective (witness Night of the Living Dead), melancholy should be purposeful, and not a mere dissipation. One of the soldiers also bears a bullet wound in the stomach with unlikely resiliency.
At any rate, No Man's Land received critical attention. It even won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, taking its queue from Cannes which had awarded it Best Screenplay. Surely there were other films more worthy, even if they did not have a political axe to grind.