that signpost up ahead...it's booby-trapped

Rating: 7/10 (24 April 2004)

While a lot of films as of late have focused on the gritty "reality" of war, this one instead looks at the gritty unreality inherent in such conflicts. It sort of felt like a Twilight Zone, but it is up to us viewers to provide their own inner Rod Serling voice-overs.
The majority of the film takes place in a trench between the Bosnians and Serbs, but the emphasis is on the larger gulf between that trench and the remote realms of politicos and infotainers.
Other reviews indicate that the dialog had more top-level humor for native speakers. Going by the subtitles alone I picked up mostly the black humor. Little things like a soldier at the frontlines who has the amazing foresight to see beyond his few clicks and worry about Rwanda, comments about cigarettes and universal English even when all one soldier knows is the word "yes."
There is broader humor along the lines of buffonery, especially in the ranks of the UN. But for me at least, the tension of what was happening in our little dirty microcosm was never watered down by what I perceived as humor.
If anything that humor, made the scenes more human. To help sustain the tension, the actors in the trench performed above and beyond the call of duty. Additionally the character of the French sergeant Marchand is vital, as he behaves how I suspect we would all hope to behave. At least initially.
While I don't think that all wars can be reduced down along such simple lines, I do think the hatred that feeds and feeds off such wars can be. This film has you wondering if one side can turn the other cheek or other shoulder or other left leg ad bloody nauseum.
If the gaping gulfs created by the media and the UN are apparently doomed to apathy and inept inaction, can a bridge be made between one man and another?
7/10