Brilliant Movie and Insight into the war. Song in the end is a lullaby.

Rating: 10/10 (11 February 2002)

This is the best insight into the Bosnian conflict ever pictured in a movie. For everyone with any interest and knowledge of the war, this movie will sum up the whole conflict. It hits the international community and bureaucracy for its inaction and half measures. The final scene is the final word on UN involvement and its effectiveness. The absurdity of the whole conflict is main theme of the movie.
joaodelauraaurora in his review remarks that the conflict of the two characters is sometimes "childish" and "not up to the hatred and grievances that oppose the two nations." That is not a flaw in the movie, that is how things really are. In Bosnia Serbs and Bosnians and Croats were friends, neighbors, and even relatives. The reason the director chose to have the characters conflict be "childish" is to show that the ancient hatreds that have been talked about by the politicians of the world are in fact not that deep and not that bitter as the extremists and nationalist would have you believe. The reviewer also thinks that the UN bureaucracy is the villain in the movie, and yes this is true, but this does not deviate from the real true story of the war. The UN was brought into Bosnia to show the world cares, but they did nothing but create an excuse for not lifting the arms embargo (also mentioned briefly in the movie) on the Bosnian government. The UN distributed aid, but the Serb forces would often take at least half as a "tariff". The media he says also plays a villain, but I think the view of the media is balanced. It shows the media bringing the worlds attention to the war and the inaction of the UN, but it also shows the personal interest involved.
In conclusion, if you want a balanced well rounded view of the Bosnian conflict this is the movie for you. If you want to pretend that the worlds leaders truly tried to do anything for Bosnia, or if you want a simple answer (even if its not totally true) to the cause of the war (ancient hatreds) then avoid this movie. The truth about the conflict is in this movie, definitely go see it. P.S. Reviewers that mentioned a conflict between Croats and Serbs in this movie are also incorrect, there are no Croats portrayed in this movie. Also the song at the end of the movie has not subtitles, so the audience if they do not speak Serbo-Croatian/Bosnian will not realize that its a lullaby (song to put kids to sleep).