Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #259457 in DVD
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, French, German
• Running time: 98 minutes

Amazon.com
Danis Tanovic's Academy Award®-winning satire of the war in the Balkans is an astounding balancing act, an acidic black comedy grounded in the brutality and horror of war. Stuck in an abandoned trench between enemy lines, a Serb and a Bosnian play the blame game in a comic tit-for-tat struggle while a wounded Bosnian soldier lies helplessly on a land mine. A French tank unit of the U.N.'s humanitarian force (known locally as "the Smurfs"), a scheming British TV reporter, a German mine defuser, and the U.N. high command (led by a bombastically ineffectual Simon Callow) all become tangled in the chaotic rescue as the tenuous cease-fire is only a spark away from detonation. Tanovic directs with a ferocious, angry eloquence and makes his points with vivid metaphors and a savage humor as harrowing as it is hilarious. Searing and smart, this satire carries an emotional recoil. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Realistic as well as a metaphor on the absurdity of war
Academy Award winner in 2002 for Best Foreign Film, this film about the recent war between the Bosnians and Serbs is not only grimly realistic, it is also is a metaphor on the absurdity of war in general. When two soldiers from opposing forces become trapped in a trench together, the seriousness of the situation escalates when a third wounded soldier, at first presumed dead, is actually alive. Problem is that he has been placed on a mine that will kill them all if he is moved. And, as the soldiers argue, it becomes clear that the one with the gun is the one who will always win the argument. Eventually, the UN becomes involved and the absurdity thickens. There were parts in the film where I laughed out loud, as the grim realism of the constant power struggles that are endemic to human nature are explored.

The titles were in English so I could follow the film, but one of the themes was that everyone spoke a different language, further complicating the matter. There's the British diplomat, the French U.N. troops, the German land mine expert, and the three soldiers trapped in their outrageous situation. The soldiers had a lot in common, speaking the same language and even had some common memories of a local girl they both knew. And the scene is indeed comical when, in order to alert the U.N. officials to their situation, they both take off their uniforms and wave white flags. But they are sworn enemies and want to kill each other also.

The acting is outstanding, with actors from that particular area of the world. But the screenplay itself its one of the best I have ever scene. Every bit of dialogue moved the action forward and was layered with meanings that went far beyond the situation. The setting didn't require huge special effects and could actually be turned into a stage play although it might be hard to stage it in so many languages, as this "tower of Babel" kind of language confusion was one of the central themes of the film.

This film is destined to join the ranks of some of the greatest symbolic war films of all time, including "The Red Badge of Courage" and "All Quiet on the Western Front." However, as this is a modern film, it includes the irony and absurdity that represent our culture today. I give this film my highest recommendation. Don't miss it.

The War of Theirs
Undoubtfully war is hell, but it seems that people need to be reminded of it all the time. This `No Man's Land' is a great reminder. Having almost a documentary approach the film shows a couple of hours in the lives of two soldiers one Bosnian and another Serbian who happen to be caught in the same trench where another soldier lies on a mine that may be detonated by any move of his. Later on, two more forces will be added: the UN and the Press, giving a new breath to the movie. I won't give more about this film, because doing it would mean take the `pleausure' of those who haven't seen it yet.

More than clarifying, the film rises questions that expect to be answered by the audience. For instance, early in the movie, the two soldires argue which nation has started the war, blaming each other's country. Another insteresting point mentioned in the film that is hardly ever showed in the movies is the UN role in wars. The script is very well balanced, once it shows both sides of its work, there are soldiers who really want to help and do something to make the war over-- like Marchand --, but, on the other hand, some people only want publicity and play political games. Another thing is the difficulties that UN faces in order to at least try to help people, for instance, the communication is extremely hard, due to the fact that there are people from many places in the world and many of them can't even understand English, mainly the soldiers.

Some people complain that the screenplay is very clichèd when it comes to the press, but I don't think so. It loosely reminded me of "Three Kings" -- which by the way is a terrific movie. I think the press is shown the way it is. They are desperate for breaking news; the reporters are dying for discoverying something brand new and exclusive, but it is hard, once everybody is covering the same war. The press looks inquisitive and it can be helpful sometimes, once one knows how to use them, see Marchand using a reporter to pressure his superiors to allow him to help the three soldiers.

The cast is very good. The native actors delivery extremely fine. I don't know if they've been to the war but they look as if they've been on the front for a long time. Seeing Katrin Cartlidge's face in the middle of all those people seemed like finding a friend in a hostile place. She is so fine as reporter that we root for her being able to telecast everthing without being censured by UN. But the one I liked most was the French actor Georges Siatidis -- who plays Marchand. We can easily see why he joined UN and how frustrated he is because he cannot help the soldiers, once his superiors forbide him of doing so. Most of the time he gives just one look and you can see all he means.

All in all, in this time of wars everywhere this film is very helpful. I don't think it is a kind of film for everybody, but it is, certainly, recomended for those who care about serious issues that may affect the world as a whole. The writer director Danis Tanovic deliveries a very disturbing and realistic film, showing that sometimes there are no solutions -- or help -- at all, and the only thing that can be done is avoiding start a new war.

A modern day parable about the farce of war
NO MAN'S LAND opens in the small hours of an impenetrably foggy night with a small contingent of Bosnian replacement soldiers groping their way to the front lines during their 1990s war with the Serbs. Sunrise finds them inadvertently caught between opposing forces, and then the Serbs start shooting. A couple of hours later, circumstances find Ciki and Nino, Bosnian and Serb respectively, marooned and wounded together in an abandoned trench between the combatants. The relationship between the two antagonists predictably starts with animosity, as depicted in a scene in which they volley shouts back and forth, like two children, about which side started the conflict. (Unsurprisingly, the one holding the loaded gun at the moment has the last word.) Then, they almost reach a rapprochement upon discovering that they both come from the same town and both know the same girl, a blond with big ... well, you know. However, the situation is complicated by the presence in the trench of another Bosnian soldier, Ciki's friend, under whose apparently dead body the Serbs had planted a Bouncing Betty mine, which, once the weight holding it down is removed, pops to a height of three feet before exploding. Unfortunately, the "dead" man isn't lifeless, only temporarily rendered unconscious from an artillery round. In any case, once a local French contingent of the UN "peacekeeping" force and the British news babe from a global TV news network get involved, the situation deteriorates.

The actors in NO MAN'S LAND will be unfamiliar to U.S. audiences. Branko Djuric and Rene Biturajac are very good as Ciki and Nino respectively. Sergeant Marchand, the long-suffering, honorable NCO in charge of the French UN detachment, and whose sincere efforts to make a difference for the better are foiled by his timid, politically correct superiors, is sympathetically played by Georges Siatidis.

This tragicomedy, Bosnia's official entry for the Foreign Language Academy Award, reminds us that tribal conflicts, especially those based on ethnic or religious hatreds (as opposed to simple land grabs), are frustratingly impervious to a rational explanation or resolution. And, furthermore, the well-intentioned efforts by outside do-gooders to reduce the odium will likely be ineffectual in the long run, and may make things worse in the short run, especially if the raisons d'être have been poorly defined.

This is a short (97 minute) but thought provoking film. As I was lucky enough to see a pre-release screening, I highly recommend it for adult viewing, though one will likely have to make the effort to find the art house theater in which it will appear.