Welcome to Sarajevo (1997)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Michael Winterbottom

Writers:

Michael Nicholson (book)
Frank Cottrell Boyce (writer)

Release Date:

26 November 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

For this celebrated, outrageous, adrenaline-loving bunch of reporters, home is the latest war zone. Now, one of them is about to do the unthinkable--get emotionally involved.

Plot:

Journalist Floyd from US, Michael Henderson from UK and their teams meet the beginning of Bosnian war in Sarajevo...

Plot Keywords:

Bosnian War | Orphanage | England | Sarajevo | War Aftermath

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Stephen Dillane	...	Michael Henderson
Woody Harrelson	...	Flynn
Marisa Tomei	...	Nina
Emira Nusevic	...	Emira
Kerry Fox	...	Jane Carson
Goran Visnjic	...	Risto Bavic
James Nesbitt	...	Gregg
Emily Lloyd	...	Annie McGee
Igor Dzambazov	...	Jacket
Gordana Gadzic	...	Mrs. Savic
Juliet Aubrey	...	Helen Henderson
Drazen Sivak	...	Zeljko
Vesna Orel	...	Munira
Davor Janjic	...	Dragan
Vladimir Jokanovic	...	Emira's Uncle

Also Known As:

Sarajevo (UK) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for brutal images/war atrocities and language.

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | Serbo-Croatian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Company:

Channel Four Films

Goofs:

Continuity: When the bus is stopped by the Chetniks, the gun of the leader alternates between being a type of Kalashnikov and a French FAMAS.

Quotes:

[Flynn has saved a child from sniper fire, getting photographed by the world's media in the process]
Annie McGee: What you did wasn't about Sarajevo. It was all about you.
Flynn: Funny thing is, back home no-one's heard of Sarajevo, and everyone's heard of me.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The 100 Greatest War Films (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Eine Kleine Lift Musik

nice, but too confused and missing the point

At the beginning I should mention that I live in Sarajevo, and I was a civilian in a besieged city, so that explains my perspective from which I was watching this movie, and experience I carry from it.

Through the whole movie, one thing kept torturing me: What is this movie about??? Is it about Michael Henderson and his moral issues, is it about all journalists and their moral issues, is it about Flynn and his understanding of war, is it about worlds' understanding of that war, is it about Sarajevo, about Emira, about orphans? This movie needs focusing on one goal, because this way I'm left with 100 stories that don't actually fit together and I don't know what I was watching the past 1,5 hours. Pictures of war make their message very clear, but then its messed up with the story that tries to cover too many things at the same time. So is it fiction? Well, no. Is it a documentary? Well, no, not that either...

Most places shown in the move are totally wrong. Characters keep jumping from one end of the city to another in matters of seconds, some events that really happened are shown in wrong places, many times characters enter streets that in real life were sniper alleys etc. (meaning no way one could get near and stay alive), military checkpoints are mostly in the wrong places and so on, but one can forgive details like that.

Welcome to Sarajevo is trying to show you how it was, living in Sarajevo under siege, but its constantly missing the point and showing the wrong things. If you want to know how it looked like, watch a documentary.

To date the only realistic movie about Bosnian war is No Man's Land, and that would be my highest recommendation. Other than that, Lepa sela lepo gore is worth watching.