No Man's Land (2001)

People are voting emotionally.

Fantastic!

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

About halfway through No Man's Land (2001), a minor character reads a newspaper and vexes about the situation in Rwanda. We all know what he is talking about when he refers to the "situation" but we as the audience can't help but giggle at his comment. For this minor character, and in fact all the characters are trapped in a very similar situation; the Balkan conflict/genocide following the breakup of Yugoslavia. Yet through this singular comment, one can get a true sense of the caustic world director Danis Tanovic creates for us.The film starts with a group of Bosnian soldiers traipsing through dense fog. They are on their way to the front but have gotten lost and decide to camp out for the night. The next morning they discover they are in the middle of no man's land, the space between two enemy lines. All but one (Branko Duric) manages to crawl into an abandoned trench. The rest are mowed down by friendly fire. Two Serbian soldiers are sent into the fray to see what had happened; one is killed, the other (Rene Bitorajac) injured and trapped along with the Bosnian in the middle of two fronts. Just as things are starting to calm down between the two, a second Bosnian survivor (Filip Sovagovic), previously thought to be dead, wakes up and discovers he is booby-trapped with a mine under his back, unable to move.The central crisis isn't so much a tension fructifying experience that allows for character development and constructive dialogue, it's rather a story of wicked satire about modern warfare with the three in no man's land becoming pawns in a complex and lugubrious conflict. At first no one seems willing to help these men; not the Bosnians, not the Serbians and certainly not the United Nations. It is only through the rash decisions of U.N. peacekeeper Sergeant Marchand (Georges Siatidis) and intrepid reporter Jane Livingstone (Katrin Cartlidge) that these soldiers' problem becomes a bit of a global fascination.Remember the days when war was fought between two opposing forces who would duke it out in geometric formations? Noble men would sacrifice themselves for their country and charge heroically into the fray; ramparts, rockets red glare, star-spangled, all-American warmongering etc. Nowadays peacekeepers, humanitarian aid, nation building, and bureaucracy are permanent unavoidable realities of war. It's almost like the powers that be are trying to suck all the fun out of combat.The film doesn't take sides in the Baltic conflict, nor does it truly admonish the motivations behind the war itself. No Man's Land is not that small of a movie. No Man's Land attempts and largely succeeds in showing the ridiculous exercise in futility that is war as a whole. Even in today's modern world where things have become more complicated, with leaders bloviating, armchair generals amassing forces through spreadsheets and memos, lazy lieutenants barking orders to their underlings, the actual act of war is ultimately barbaric and immoral. "Neutrality does not exist in the face of murder." says Sergeant Marchand "Doing nothing to stop it is, in fact, choosing. It is not being neutral." With those words Marchand makes the connection many fail to draw on their own, war no matter how justified is still an act of murder. And that is ultimately how No Man's Land finishes its darkly comedic story. It begins with a depiction of war and ends with a (spoiler alert) depiction of murder as the world shrugs in ignorance. For the record, it has been 12 years, 1 month and 2 days since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan which is among a list of approximately 30 continuing armed conflicts all around the world. I say this not to be haughty or controversial but to maintain a larger point. In the ongoing conflict in Israel, 272 Israelis and Palestinians were killed in 2012. By comparison 504 Americans were murdered in Chicago and 386 were killed in Detroit that same year. What that means is if we were to define war by fatalities we have more than a few in our own country. Or to put it more responsibly, we have a lot of murder globally to answer for. Just as the credits in No Man's Land are about to roll, the intrepid reporter we have come to admire is asked if she wants one last shot of the trench. A quote by Albert Einstein goes through my mind every time I watch that particular last scene; "Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them! How vile and despicable war seems to me! I would rather be hacked in pieces than take part in such an abominable business." Sadly, in the fashion that many of the disaffected would answer, she says "No. A trench is a trench, they're all the same." I guess it's easy to not ruminate over such things when you can just change the channel.

This the only movie I will rate 10 out of 10. Why you will ask yourselves? It is simple. I had the same idea, and if I became a movie director I would of made that film.I knew Danis Tanovic since we were teenagers. He is a great person in every sense! A real gem of this world, rare to find in this dangerous world of ours. Since the war came to our unfortunate land I came up with the idea for this film and idea for a movie that later became Circus Columbia. I told Danis if we are to survive the war he or I will make those films. He went on to be successful movie director and I well, film critic on IMDb.com. I did not think that Danis was to succeed. There was so much going against him. Serbs wanted to get a piece of his Muslim butt, like all Muslims he was a target to be executed when captured by the remnants of the Yugoslav Army which quickly turned into Serb Army. Luckily that did not happen, Serbs failed to kill or chase out of Bosnia-Herzegovina all Muslims and Croats they wanted to. And look at him, Danis is an Oscar winning movie director! What to say but congratulations and felicitations! The film is perfect in every sense, a true anti war film. It makes you wish that people should not wage war on each other, but it seems impossible wish. The only way to experience that masterpiece is to watch the film yourselves. Pleaase make your lazy Anglo-Saxon butts read and understand the dialog. It really is a gem! And if you want to find that no mans land in the real life take a drive between Trebinje, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Dubrovnik, Croatia. It is a true no mans land!

A true winner of Oscar, however it is difficult to decide between Amelie and this one. The film is one of those rare pieces where you find unpredictable things happening. First there is love and respect which changes gradually. In the starting it was looking awkward but the ending stole the show for me. A film made on a different subject like the cold mountains. It presents very nicely the characters and mental states of the two people. I liked the role of media as well. The duration of the film is well and optimum. In the middle it was looking that they are running out of the plot and may be nothing will be left for them. But then they did introduced new lines and characters well suited to the story. A true entertainment."A definite watch at least for one time."

Lagaan lost to this movie at Oscars because it is more impactful, with authentic feel and literally the piece of international cinema involving characters across borders that even can't understand the language of each other but have to do their duties in the name of war and peace. The movie is a satire, making you laugh most of the times and making you feel sorry for the characters at the same moment. The chats between the three trapped soldier is skillfully written and narrated. The movement of the single gun between the two soldiers are the most smart parts of the movie. At the end, movie hits and disturbs you in the most unforgettable way.You will end this movie thinking, even the wars are just a big joke for us.