And on the neutral strip the flowers... They never grew up.
No Man's Land - 7 out of 10
A 2001 film by Bosnian director Danis Tanovic. In a trench on a neutral strip during a brawl in Bosnia, by chance, a Serbian soldier and a Bosnian militiaman were found. And there's another Bosnian in between. Except he's lying on a min-frog. And to get out of there without a chance - both sides are ready to iron out the trenches. We have to get out of this. But the guys start fighting instead. In theory, it would be possible to make a good movie about the fact that enemies can find common ground and save each other, seeing in the enemy a man with his truth. But not this time. There is no common ground between these enemies. And between the Bosnian director and the Serbs. It's a one-way movie. Bosniaks here with their cockroaches, but cute, and the Serbs as one - humanoid mutants. Even in the soldier who finds himself in this trench, a little bit human, only to show that the Bosnian is also opposed to the man of meat. Purely Balkan comedy grotesque now and then breaks into a tough one. Well, the final, in order not to spoil (suddenly someone did not see) in general leads to the idea that there are no rightists in the war anyway. Although the last touch can not correct a sufficiently lopsided picture.
This film I decided to watch after the blog of a traveler who traveled to several Balkan countries and wrote, among other things, about non-healing wounds left over from the 90s. The breakup of Yugoslavia was much bloodier than the breakup of the USSR, but there are a number of parallels. I became interested in the Balkan Wars of the 90s, and I came across this movie. I saw it. What are my impressions? Strong impressions. First of all, the director doesn’t take sides. Representatives of both peoples behave in the same way. Even when they find themselves in such a ridiculous situation that requires reconciliation, they continue to fight. And this is where the primordial essence comes out ' whoever has the trunk is right'. In the course of action ' Right' turn out alternately Bosnian, then Serb, but in the end there are no winners. The actions of the UN and journalists from the Western world are also shown. The UN portrays a stormy activity, but really nobody cares about these "Dirty Balkans" & #39; And only individual officers try to do something, to go against the authorities, but the system is stronger, and those in need are left without help. Reporters are a separate subject. Is it possible to save a human face in pursuit of sensation? Well... sort of like some people trying. But it doesn't work. Again, there are phrases about ' dirty Balkans'. Someone wrote about humor. I didn't notice the humor. That the man lying on the mine, I'm sorry, really wanted? Not funny. Or how the bald man ' haircut ' corrects? Not funny either. The film is very serious and there is nothing to laugh about. Oh yes, the French-UN forces roll out on the Yugoslav armored personnel carrier 'BOV'. Analogue of our BRDM-2. I don’t know if this is considered a blunder, or could they really be given the equipment that will turn out, including locally produced? Of the confused thoughts, I can say two more. First, the most adequate was the Bosnian lying on a mine. He seems to be the only one who thinks this war is pointless. Second, it is hard to believe that all these peoples have lived peacefully side by side in a prosperous country. The heroes themselves remember the peaceful years, the blonde girl with whom they both studied together, and now they look at each other like a wolf. How so? We also have parallels of the likes 'wolf' views between brotherly nations yesterday. It's all sad.
The diagnosis will sound the words "nothing will change" in the drama "Nobody's Land" Bosnian director Danis Tanovich. The participant and witness of the Bosnian war Danis made a film deservedly received many awards.
The director, as the artist framed his picture with a frame, a haze of fog at the beginning and a sunset captivating with its silent beauty in the finale. It's no coincidence. The contrast of nature and events in the film shows the repulsive meaninglessness of war and its constant repetition throughout history since the creation of the world. The modern political world order is such that civil wars have become commonplace. Anger, hatred, intolerance. While heads of state, various political and public organizations at the top pretend to negotiate and solve the problem, people on both sides of the conflict are dying, dying and will continue to die every day. No wars have added consciousness to humanity. Ethnic cleansing did not become a thing of the past with the end of World War II, it received a new stinking breath in a progressive society.
Chicki is a Bosnian soldier in a T-shirt with the Rolling logo, whose protruding tongue looks like an ironic mockery of what is happening around. Nino is a recruit from the Serbian army, absurdly imposing his politeness in the form of extending his hand for greeting. And the most sane of them, a Bosnian soldier chained to lie motionless on the ground because of the "jumping bomb" laid beneath him. Nice company to have a wonderful time during one of the many days of the Civil War.
How all these people got together you can see the movie. I wanted to emphasize that the film covered all the nuances of civil modern war.
Reporters. Vultures with cameras scurrying everywhere and microphones poking at soldiers. They need sensation, not substance and consequence. "There is nothing remarkable there" and you can already go further for a new topic.
UN Peacekeepers Captain with perfect English, German sapper, French soldiers. Silent observers of people killing each other. And only the personal qualities of a small number of soldiers still show humanity. “Nothing will change” as the verdict is pronounced by one of them, and will continue his inactive observation.
Irreconcilable enemies. They are only looking for a way to kill each other, to prove themselves right, to take revenge, to teach a lesson. Like a ball, they turn the phrase Who started the war? Who?". Depending on the balance of forces, they show their primitive essence, stating "because I have a gun, and you do not." And the words "we are not like them" will sound wild against the background of deaths around.
Soldier. He keeps a picture of his beloved wife in his wallet. Death literally lies next to him. But he does not lose his spirit and looks up with hope. It is through his eyes that we see a haze of mist at the beginning, a clear blue sky in the midst of events and a mesmerizing sunset at the end. With condemnation, he throws in the face of angry and shouting at each other Serb and Bosnian phrase What difference does it make who started. We're still in the same shit. He is the only one among all this chaos.
The fog will dissipate, opening the eyes, the blue sky will replace the sunset. Nothing will change. The senseless war continues, taking on increasingly strange forms.
The precipitation is heavy after the final. And I wanted to be Shoshanna Dreyfus for a while, when you know what you're avenging and dying for.
The debut work of Danis Tanovich at one time collected a large piggy bank of film awards, having noted at almost all important minor festivals and winning, in the end, the Oscar for the best foreign film. Conflicts in the former territory of the SFRY at the time just began to come to naught, the relevance of the war still hung in the air and was in no hurry to leave the discussions. The tragicomic humanization of the fighting suited at this moment in the best way - here you have peacemaking, and a message, and tragedy against the background of the ordinary human soul and its inherent stupidity. Of course, the Bosnian director had to listen to a critical drama about conjuncture and adaptability, since there are really no corners in the tape, even taking into account such a finale. It is because of him that the film pleases almost everyone, giving a chance to ordinary human reconciliation and immediately depriving them of their emotional impulses towards mistakes. However, in this case it should be seen as an attempt to say. And it is very good that Danis Tanovich in his attempt was heard.
Of course, the main success of the film lies in the story itself, in the plot canvas, which has a much-needed mystery, a central confrontation-conflict, a second “peacemaking” line and bright characters of the characters. Actually, if we consider the whole text, see the script before the shooting of this tape, we can understand in detail what it will result, because structurally in this scenario everything is observed, up to the finale, open, but frankly understandable in its speculative closing. There are almost no flaws in this film, because everything that is assembled in the kit – everything works literally mechanically. Let some not pity, but others, driven or open, compassionate. Let the heroes be driven by faith in truth and conscience, for each their own, in many ways – mistaken. Let there be no solution as such, and there will be no solution as long as conflicts have exceptional methods of fighting by force. Any point of view on war is ridiculed here, and even peacekeepers, despite their loud designation, cannot bring good where this good is by no means provided.
Of course, the work of Tanovic is different from other Balkan films, which are usually watched not only on the territory of our country, but also around the world. It is distinguished by literary irony, is distinguished by movement, the view of a free artist who does not have in his reputation the status of a demonstrator of geographical culture. Simply put, the difference between Tanovich and Kusturica is colossal, the temperament is not worth waiting for. One has only to dodge hints of political correctness, which will fall into the eyes of the viewer. And then, only if you see political correctness in every step, advocating the manifestation of humanity and love for others.
The land does not really belong to anyone. And not just the piece used in this movie. Buying the same cottage, you are in fact only a tenant. You cannot take the earth with you to the grave.
Paradoxically, for thousands of years it was for the earthly resource that the most blood was shed. Wars, the use of nuclear weapons, economic blockades – everywhere the primary source of problems must be sought in the earthly question. And this despite the fact that thousands of years ago people were almost a million times less! They did not even use the land! The rulers liked the sense of possession.
Now back to the film, the essence of the conflict which hardly anyone remembers. And even fewer people will be able to explain the reasons for the enmity between the warring factions. But the target is land.
The authors of the film interestingly conveyed the effect of enmity between two people. Deaths are born out of nowhere, when, it would seem, there are no special causes. Is it in our genes, in our brains, in our mentalities, to want enmity and victory over anyone we don’t like?
The film came across quite by accident - a friend threw me a screamer under the guise of explaining the principle of the mina-frog, around which the main plot of the film revolves. Then I laughed so well, slipping this screamer to some particularly sensitive or just having a good sense of humor friends, but that’s another story altogether.
I would try to reveal the essence, but I'm afraid to drop a spoiler, because the director's thought shines through every frame of this film. To find fault, I will immediately say, by the way, there is nothing to do, so there will be no descriptions of disadvantages. So, most likely, the essence of the film was that a Bosnian and a Serb were forced to sit in the same trench, holding each other, periodically, at gunpoint. We can agree on this: in fact, because of this situation, the main hype grew. Moreover, I note that objectively I want to take the side of the Bosnian: they really did not unleash any wars, but wanted to secede precisely because of the chauvinism of the Serbs - well, Slobodan Milosevic's Yugoslavia was not similar to Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslavia, because the first saw Yugoslavia as the mentioned "Great Serbia to the Pacific", and the second - as a socialist republic with no national and religious differences. On the other hand, from a human point of view, priority is given unconditionally to the Serbian soldier. I do not know what exactly influenced this – a somewhat stereotypical (albeit utterly vital) image of a novice nerd who tried to behave kindly, but always received from his own and from others, tired of endless misfortunes, or that this Nino always found himself in a position where the interlocutor was right, because “he has a gun, and Nino does not.” On the surface, of course, but Tanovich really managed to show the situation without right and wrong.
However, there is another side to the film. I already said that there was a huge hype around this mine. So, the bitter irony of this film (and, apparently, war in general) is that, as much as you do not dramatize and try to correct something somewhere, the braid will still find on the immutable stone: knowledge - on ignorance, peace - on conflict, etc. As a result, they made noise - they dispersed, and the wagon is still there: the enemies are looking for fights, and the necessary weight will remain necessary so that the explosive mechanism does not come into operation.
Let me end by saying this: burn the hot iron out of your head this idiotic cliche about which war is 'most terrible'. Whether civil or between states, war remains a war, and its methods are always the same, fought on both sides, whatever their nationality, members of the species Homo sapiens. As ironic as it may sound, but it is those who believe that “fratricidal” war is worse, and unleash senseless wars like the one shown in this film.
10 out of 10
I don’t remember who said it, but it’s a miniature of the script. There is a lot of hatred in it, and there is a mine that can explode at any moment and destroy those who so fiercely hate each other. By the will of fate in the trench in the neutral territory between the two opposing sides, was a Serb and two Bosniaks. They are wounded, and one of them lies on a “frog” – an antipersonnel mine, which explodes, jumping, to a height of 1 m, and is stuffed with striking elements that fly within a radius of 50 meters, killing all life in the affected area. So they are tied tightly, being in the “one boat”, and aggravates the situation by the fact that “theirs” on either side do not mind destroying them in order to be completely sure that they are not enemies. This situation forces the sworn enemies to reconcile for a while, and to search together for a way out of the current situation. However, emotions are very difficult to control, especially since each of them has an automaton, and ending the life of a “misfortunate friend” seems sometimes an insurmountable temptation.
In general, the plot is not trivial. Director Danis Tanovich is Bosnian, but he is not taking sides in this conflict, but instead trying to understand its root causes. This unusual film study leads the viewer into the wilds of psychology, which sets in motion the mechanism of the war machine – hatred. It shows clearly what destructive power it has. If you start this mechanism, it can no longer be stopped like the mine that is activated. Hatred spares no one, neither friends nor enemies. She kills everyone. This is a real psychological drama, very talentedly staged and played. This can only be done by those who have seen the war in person. Very interesting movie! Fans of the genre of military drama are highly recommended to watch.
War is a terrible and cruel thing. It is even worse when it is a civil war. It was about such a war - the Serbian-Bosnian conflict of 1992-1995 - the Bosnian Danis Tanovich made his film.
The plot of the film revolves around three people – two Bosnians and one Serb – who are trapped in neutral territory between the warring parties. At the same time, one of the heroes, a wounded Bosnian, lies on a mine, which, as it turns out, is not subject to demining. The mine will immediately explode if either the injured person moves or someone tries to move him.
Despite the difficult situation from which former citizens of a united country are trying to get out together, their conflict does not stop. The conflict, which is woven out of small things, grows and ends tragically. At some point it seems that everything can be stopped, steps are taken towards reconciliation. However, no, the terrible mechanism of destruction is launched. Here you can draw an analogy with a mine, which also cannot be neutralized. This mechanism was launched a long time ago and, as much as we like to admit it, it will lead to an explosion.
The director, who is also the author of the script, is neutral towards the parties to the conflict. The characters of the film are victims of this senseless war, a war in which they may have been drawn against their will. It is significant that during the dispute, neither the Serb Nino nor the Bosnian Chiki want to admit which of their peoples was responsible for the breakup of Yugoslavia and who started this war first. No one wants to concede in an argument and only the one who currently has a weighty argument in the form of weapons, “wins” it.
Unfortunately, the director of the film, in my opinion, was unable or unwilling to find the reasons that led to the tragic pages in the history of the two peoples. Where are the seeds of conflict, and what gave life-giving power to grow into war? Instead of trying to answer this question, Tanovich shifts the focus of the film to the events around the main characters - the roles of the villains are played by journalists and the UN peacekeeping force. Thus, Danis Tanovich chose a simpler path for himself, because it is much easier to find an external enemy than to look for him inside himself.