This Trench is Not Just Another Trench

Rating: 7/10 (15 August 2013)

'No Man's Land' is a black comedy set amidst an ethnic cleansing war in a catch-22 situation. Set in Bosnia and Herzegovina during 1993 at the time of the heaviest fighting between the two warring sides. Two soldiers from opposing sides in the conflict, Nino and Ciki, become trapped in no man's land, whilst a third soldier becomes a living booby trap. A UN unit go against their orders to help them.
The opening night scene is powerful. The chaos, confusion and paranoia of conflict is quite realistic. The absurdity, intensity as well as the senselessness of war is shown well to an extent and there were times when the humor was very well done. I was surprised by the use of so much English in the movie, along with some French dialogues.
'No Man's Land' is almost undone by the director's (who fought in the war as well) obvious partiality towards the Bosnian Muslims. The UN and the Serbs are nothing more than caricatures. Serbs are trivialized (in his opinion) as men who prefer other men (I thought that scene would have had more meaning than that and hence was disappointed) while the Muslim, Ciki is a completely heterosexual man who prefers busty, long-legged lasses. Serbs are mainly portrayed as fat, lazy, hateful and incompetent, while the opposite is true for the Muslims. The movie also chides the UN for not butting in (in addition to providing humanitarian aid) and ending the war. The UNPROFOR officer is shown as an obnoxious pervert and I'd wager there were many like him in real-life. But, all these things point to just one thing and that's propaganda. It also falters in the end when the journalists don't check out the trench and it just doesn't fit in with the character, much like Ciki shooting Nino.
It won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2002. While it certainly is a worthwhile movie, I cannot imagine how this won an Academy Award. It must be because of the topical issue of the twin tower blasts in the US at the time which had an enormous impact on Americans, since both Lagaan (that got lost in translation) and Amelie which were nominated that year were true masterpieces.
7/10