Behind Enemy Lines (2001)

Director:

John Moore

Writers (WGA):

Jim Thomas (story) &
John Thomas (story) ...

Release Date:

30 November 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Action | War | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

In War There Are Some Lines You Should Never Cross.

Plot:

A Navy navigator is shot down over enemy territory and is ruthlessly pursued by a secret police enforcer and the opposing troops. Meanwhile his commanding officer goes against orders in an attempt to rescue him.

Plot Keywords:

Rescue | Navy | Navigator | Reconnaissance | Mine Field

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Owen Wilson	...	Lt. Chris Burnett
Gene Hackman	...	Admiral Leslie McMahon Reigart
Gabriel Macht	...	Stackhouse
Charles Malik Whitfield	...	Capt. Rodway, USMC
David Keith	...	Master Chief Tom O'Malley
Olek Krupa	...	Miroslav Lokar
Joaquim de Almeida	...	Admiral Piquet (as Joaquim De Almeida)
Vladimir Mashkov	...	Sasha
Marko Igonda	...	Bazda
Eyal Podell	...	Petty Officer Kennedy
Geoffrey Pierson	...	Admiral Donnelly (as Geoff Pierson)
Aernout Van Lynden	...	Aernout Van Lynden
Sam Jaeger	...	Red Crown Operator #1
Shane Johnson	...	Red Crown Operator #2 (as Shane Mikael Johnson)
Don Winston	...	Red Crown Operator #3

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for war violence and some language.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Serbo-Croatian | Spanish | Czech

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Malaysia:U | Portugal:M/12 | Australia:MA (DVD rating) | UK:12 | South Korea:12 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | Denmark:15 | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Australia:M (original rating) | Ireland:12 | UK:15 (DVD/VHS release) | Ireland:15 (DVD/VHS release) | Argentina:13 | Brazil:12 | Finland:K-15 | France:U | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Hungary:14 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:R13 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #38516) | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Koliba Studios, Bratislava, Slovakia

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

British news channel Sky News features prominently in the film. Sky News and 20th Century Fox (the studio that produced the movie) are both owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the scene when Burnett is walking through the mine field between the buildings, he is hit by several mine blasts at fairly close range. The first blast killed the enemy soldier at nearly the same range and with only one blast.

Quotes:

Chris Burnett: You're an optimist, sir. See I had you figured for a grouch.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Incident at Loch Ness (2004)

Soundtrack:

What'd I Say

So Badly Written It`s Offensive To The Dead Of The Balkans Conflict

What`s fundamentally wrong with this movie is summed up by the opening voice over about " The Cincinatti peace accord " . I jumped out of my seat screaming " The whaaaat ? . It`s the Dayton peace accord you bloody fool " . But I realised this was a complete work of fiction even though it`s set against the background of the aftermath of the early 90s Balkans conflict . Or is it ? Is it set before the signing of the Dayton peace accord of 1995 or after it ? Is it set before the Kosovo campaign of 1999 or after it ? This vagueness of chronology is irritating as are the politics . Why is the Serb faction so anti- Mladic ? Despite his unforgivable behaviour against Bosniak ( Bosnian Muslims ) and Croat civilians during the conflict Mladic was by far the most popular Bosian Serb leader amongst the Bosnian Serb population , and once again I`ve got to ask when BEHIND ENEMY LINES is set ? If it`s after 1995 Slobodan Milosevic should be the hate figure for these Serb rebels for signing the Dayton peace agreement . Another thing that annoyed me was the false picture painted of the NATO command structure which has always been commanded by Americans . There is exceptions to the rule such as NATO`s ground offensive in Kosovo in 1999 being led by British general Mike Jackson but NATO has nearly always been an entirely American run show and there`s no way Uncle Sam would allow an entire NATO task force to be run by a French admiral as seen here . And another unforgivable error that shows the screenwriters don`t have a clue what they`re writing about is the line " The F-18 was shot down over southern Bosnia " ! Even when the Bosnian Serb army made its greatest gains in the summer/autumn of 1992 they never reached as far as southern Bosnia , this area remained in the hands of the Bosnian Croats before , during and after the war while most of central Bosnia was held by the Bosniaks while the rest of Bosnia was held by the Serbs so if the hero was shot down over " Southern Bosnia " how come he`s being chased by Serb militia and tanks . Oh and if there`s a peace deal how come everyone is fighting again ? Wasn`t there a large UN presence before NATO arrived ? Wasn`t there a large NATO ground force ( I-For it was called ) sent into the country to implement the Dayton peace accord ? So how come we don`t see any NATO ground forces stopping the fighting between the factions ?

I might be accused of nit picking but I wish to say that I think it`s absolutely obscene that Hollywood has made a movie set against the back drop of a conflict that killed 278,000 human beings and not once do I get the impression that the production team know what they`re talking about . It`s not too difficult to check a few facts if only to show a little respect to the victims of this brutal conflict . I`ve never been to the former Yugoslavia but I obviously know more about the conflict than the people who produced and wrote the screenplay . If you`re going to do a made up movie that resembles MCGUYVER meets MTV can you please have the decency to set it in a made up country