Welcome to Sarajevo (1997)

War is Still Hell

There are few more devastating images than this: a busload of children being shuttled to safety through the bombed-out neigborhoods of Sarajevo, in the former Yugoslavia. The U.N.-led convoy is halted by a band of Serbian roustabouts dressed in their military togs. One, a bearded smart aleck enters the hushed vehicle and proceeds to claim all Muslim children, whose names he reads from a list. As the wailing subsides and the kidnappers drive away carrying the doomed innocents, the unthinkable happens. You are moved.

That's Welcome to Sarajevo in a nutshell-heartbreaking, sincere, and boldly partisan. And smartly, director Michael Winterbottom chooses a gonzo, pseudo-journalistic style that, like those living in the city, has us dodging mortar fire and rushing through the streets to witness the genocide.

The movie's about putting us on the front line and making us swallow the absurdity and chaos of a country in turmoil.
August 21, 2007

Never Forget The Balkans

"Welcome To Sarajevo" is a powerful drama directed by Michael Winterbottom, starring Stephen Dillane, Woody Harrelson, Goran Visnjic, Emira Nusevic and Marisa Tomei. Harrelson and Dillane are journalists (U.S. and British, respectively), who were covering the war in Bosnia, specifically in its capital city Sarajevo (with sprinkling of events in other parts of the country).

Though the movie does not cover the origins of the conflict, and the differences between Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs, it does provide the insight into the events as experienced by the foreign journalists. Sprinkled with actual documentary footage, the film is engrossing and educational.

Henderson (Dillane) is trying to stay detached from the war, and to restrict his involvement to objective reporting. This becomes increasingly difficult when he sees a local orphanage being filled with children who witnessed tragedies that would put many brave adults on Prozac and Xanax. At the same time, Winterbottom interjects his own opinion of the war by inserting actual clips of world leaders expressing displeasure at the conflict, some even denying that there are any atrocities actually going on.

I highly recommend this movie to everyone who wants to become acquainted with what the people in the middle of Europe had to live with in the late 20th century, while their neighbors turned a blind eye. I also recommend reading a short history of Bosnia prior to viewing this film, simply for a better understanding of events, and of who is doing what to whom and why. Let's hope this never happens again. April 7, 2007

Great movie, but why no extras?

*Possible Spoilers*
I will review the movie first, then the DVD. I first watched "Welcome to Sarajevo" the week after Easter in 2003. Even though it got a relatively lukewarm reception by critics and moviegoers, I found it powerful. The basic plot of the film is about a British journalist, Michael Henderson (played by Stephen Dillane), who sees a 9 year-old girl named Emira in an orphanage that is bombed. Henderson forms a bond with young Emira, and decides that he must get her out of the country. Now at the time, the UN policy was that no children were to be evacuated from Bosnia, unless they had living relatives in another country. Aware of this policy, Henderson risks jeopardizing his career, getting into legal trouble, and possibly losing his life to find a way to adopt Emira. He eventually succeeds, and Emira happily lives in Henderson's posh London home.

"Welcome to Sarajevo" is a difficult film to watch at times. For example, we see scenes of civilians massacred interspersed with archival news footage of Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic confidently saying that his forces act "in accordance with the Geneva Convention." There's one scene that many viewers are bound to find traumatic: several children, including Emira, are on a bus bound for an airport to take them out of the country and to safety. Unfortunately, they are stopped by members of the Chetniks, a Bosnian Serb paramilitary group. One of them boards the bus looks at the list of passengers, and forcefully removes several of the children. Emira would have been among them, but Henderson covers her and cries, "No! She's English!" Unfortunately, a baby that Emira had been caring for, Roadrunner, is removed. Nina (Marisa Tomei), an idealistic humanitarian who arranged for the childrens' departure, tries desparately, but in vain, to stop the Chetniks from taking the children.

Ultimately, "Welcome to Sarajevo" succeeds in giving a sense of what daily life was like in Sarajevo during the war. One word describes it: hopeless. The citizens hoped that someone could protect them sniping and shelling, that someone would get them out of there, but these hopes were unfulfilled. Since Americans were bombarded with news of the Bosnian war on a daily basisy, in a relatively sanitized form, they eventually grew apathetic to the whole thing. Myself included. If nothing else, I think "Welcome to Sarajevo" succeeds in portraying the Bosnian war as a true tragedy. For many, it was half a world away, but for those who were there, it was real, and it affected them day in and day out for 4 years.

Now for the DVD review. Why are there no extras on the DVD? If "Black Hawk Down" can get a 3-disc deluxe edition treatment, why can't "Welcome to Sarajevo" get something similar? There's plenty of stuff out there that could be put onto a special edition. For example, on YouTube I found interviews with the cast at the time of filming. In addition, I believe there was a PBS Frontline special about snipers in Sarajevo. If the Black Hawk Down DVD could include a PBS Frontline special among its special features, there's no reason it couldn't be done with this movie. In addition, there's plenty of archival news footage about the Bosnian war that could be put in to the special features. Of course, we could have commentary from the director, cast, and maybe the author of the book "Natasha's Story." Since the 10th anniversary of the movie's release is coming in November, I really think that they should at least consider these ideas. February 1, 2007

The biggest victims of genocide are the children

This is one of my favorite movies and I have watched it many times. In the face of unrelenting hatred, there are people who make a difference in the lives of others and this movie tells the story of these people. After seeing the movie, I researched the story of Emira (real name Natasha) and the British journalist who, with the combined efforts of others, rescued her. Even though he caught a lot of negativity for his actions, he still believed in doing the right thing when he could. The actual war footage in this movie shows just what the Bosnian people lived through. I have followed this war for many years (among other acts of genocide in other countries) and it never ceases to amaze me what some people do to other people they perceive to be diferent. This movie shows that there are still good people out there that are willing to risk it all if only to save one life. The soundtrack is equally as great. November 8, 2006

Surprisingly Powerful Look At A War That Went Unnoticed....

This movie makes me want to be a journalist. The movie follows the lives of foreign correspondants who become intwined with the Bosnian war occuring in Sarajevo- a war they don't understand. While dealing with the silent tragedies erupting around them . The journalists covering the story of the century feel- frustrated, angry and depressed at times at the world's lack of care to tragedy unfolding in the country. A war in which children playing outside an apartment were considered fair game and a war that civilians were constantly targeted on both sides. A war that to this day is still misunderstood by the world and a genocide of a people that went on unnoticed.

To this day people in the United States debate wether or not saving Bosnia was worth committing troops and peacekeeping troops after seeing this movie you'll be horrorified that the US and the rest of the civilized world did not do more. I'm a little biased in my feelings of the conflict my preacher was in Bosnia for a year and I know an immigrant who escaped from the terror that unfolded there. The war was a civil war fought among the states of Yugoslavia-at the fall of communism. States in Yugoslavia began declaring independance based on their ethnic nationality- Serb, Croat, and Muslim... Creating a great amount of ethnic tension that OFFICIALY erupted in 92. The Serbs began trying to reclaim land- as they claimed their land they forced evacuated Muslims and Croats from their home, as well as executed many males and sent others to forced labor camps. The state of Bosnia the stronghold of Yugoslavia's Muslim population became the center of Serb attack and it's capital Sarajevo became a city under siege.

What makes the movie powerful is many of the images/comments used in the movie is from ACTUAL footage-making haunting moments when you realize your looking at ACTUAL footage taken from a reporter who was there.

Based on the true story- the movie centers around a British reporter who ends up adopting a Bosian Muslim child- hoping to save her from the conflict and a love between them that blurs his work from his love for his daughter. For he is NOW speaking for his daughter.

The movie is a little one-sided in the fact it is clearly ANTI-SERB and the truth is no ethnic group was truly innocent in this conflict.

Welcome To Sarajevo shows the blurs between empathy, human nature, and being a witness to untolerable events. All in all "Welcome To Sarajevo" is definately a wonderful film to watch and is one with surprising emotional impact. July 23, 2006

More reviews at Amazon.com ...