A dark comedy set against the Bosnian war, real and raw, yet accessible to Western audiences as well.

Rating: 8/10 (23 May 2014)

War is Hell. Everyone knows adage. But, just as Dante asserts in the Divine Comedy, different Hells are reserved for different people depending on our sins. And while writer and director Denis Tanovic is vague about which sins of the past brought the Former Yugoslavian Republics to the Hell of the genocidal wars of the 1990's, he does a masterful job painting for a picture of the schizophrenic, absurdest hell which razed the bucolic towns and villages and raped the lush natural beauty of this troubled land for nearly a decade. He was rewarded for both his writing and directing with numerous awards, including the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film (2002) and a Palme d'Or nomination at the Cannes Film Festival. The film opens with a squad of Bosnians on an early patrol who suddenly find themselves in an exposed position when the fog lifts. A shell-burst from a Serbian tank kills all but one of them, Ciki (Branko Djuric) who hides in an abandon trench, and watches, wide eyed, in one of the most tension-riddled scenes from the movie, as two Serbian soldiers- one of whom is the green, nervous, new recruit Nino (Rene Bitorajac) come to inspect the kill. Through the course of the film, the two men, both wounded, must try to work together to survive and return to their own lines But, as their situation a microcosm for the larger conflict, just when it seems common ground is about to be reached, they take two steps backwards when real or perceived insults lead to a break-down in peace-talks, mainly in the form of petty, childlike recriminations as to "who started it". Eventually both men are shot in the ass by the other. As if things weren't bad enough, a mine under the "body" of a not-so-dead Bosnian soldier will kill them all should he move. Without revealing too much, it does not end happily, and many viewers will be left puzzled, trying to figure out who is to blame. Perhaps the militaristic Serbs, with their crisp uniforms and shiny equipment? Or decidedly un-military Bosnians, with their shaggy haircuts and civilian attire? Or perhaps maybe the do-nothing smurf-helmeted "peace-keepers" of the UN, under orders to stay out of harm's way? Or maybe even the grim, amorphous specter of War itself, that ever present Horseman of the Apocalypse, is ultimately at fault? Tonavic, a Bosnian, does place the blame at the feet of the Serbs, albeit in a somewhat subtle and sub-textual way. Even in their appearances, we are lead to favor the Bosnian,who, with his 40-something age, and Rolling Stones t-shirt, looks somewhat like everyone's favorite stoner uncle, while the person of Nino the Serb, with his shaved head, sharp nose, and wire-rimmed glasses, would look just as at home in an SS uniform as he does in Serbian military fatigues. However, Tanovic establishes that he is not the shock-troop we might think him to be based on his appearance; we have previously seen Nino try to introduce himself to the veteran with whom his is paired for his mission, only to be angrily informed that the crusty old soldier has no interest in learning his name, as newly conscripted soldiers die soon anyway. Thusly, we simultaneously are made to sympathize with both the Bosnian and the young Serb, as they are both terrified and vulnerable in the face of a pointless war not of their choosing. Many, including Stephen Holden of the New York Times, read the text as being neutral in regards to the righteousness of the belligerents, with the true villain being an apathetic UN peace keeping mission, embodied by morally corrupt British Col. Soft (Simon Callow), whose command decisions are aimed only at protecting the image of the UN.