NO MAN'S LAND
Slovenia - 98 minutes - 35mm
Screenplay: Danis Tanovic
Directors: Danis Tanovic
Starring: Branko Djuric, Rene Bitorajac, Georges Siatidis, Simon Callow, Katrin Cartlidge.
WINNER: BEST FEATUREThe best feature I've seen in competition... and one of the best films I've seen in a long time. From Bosnia, of all places. A film about the Bosnia/Serbian conflict that is funny and frightening and sad. The film opens with a group of Bosnian soldiers being taken to the front lines...but they get lost in the fog. They decide to camp until the fog lifts in the morning. Each of these guys is a fully fleshed out character from the first frame of film- each has a unique sense of humor... and since these guys are going to war, they are nervous (and funny). When the sun rises, they realize they've over-shot their destination... they are only a few feet away from the entire Serbian army! They run like hell- but only one survives. Wounded, he dives into an abandoned trench & wood bunker halfway between the Serbs and Bosnians - in no man's land. The area is heavily mined - it's a miracle he made it. He pulls out a cigarette... then remembers he's out of matches. But his dead buddy has a lighter- so he crawls out of the trench, gunfire blasting around him, and grabs his dead buddy's lighter. Back in the trench he has a smoke.
The Serbs decide to send in 2 men to kill him: A war hardened soldier and the new guy (who hasn't had time to unpack).
When our Bosnian survivor hears them coming, he hides. The Serbs take his dead buddy's corpse and plant a land mine under it - if anyone moves the body, the mine detonates. Then they hear a sound... the Bosnian!
The Bosnian survivor kills the old Serb soldier and wounds the new Serb soldier. He asks the new Serb soldier for a map of the mine field - but the kid doesn't have one. The old soldier knew where the mines were... and now he's dead. The Bosnian and Serb are now trapped in the middle of no man's land together! The film keeps its sense of humor, even when the situation becomes more serious - it had me laughing out loud at the most frightening things...
Remember that dead Bosnian soldier whose body is booby-trapped with the mine? He's not quite dead. He was just unconscious. When he comes to, he wants to get up! Now, the Bosnian and Serb must keep this guy from moving - if he sets off the mine, they all die! A very tense situation - but the dialogue is viciously funny. As the situation escalates (this is happening directly between two groups of people firing artillery at each other) we realize that these three men must learn to set aside their differences and work together... but they don't. They continue to try and kill each other.
I can't remember a recent film that had me laughing and crying and sitting on the edge of my seat at the same time like NO MAN'S LAND did. The dialogue was fantastic, the acting was great, and the ability to see war as tragic and absurd simultaneously was amazing. There's a scene where a UN official brings his bimbo to the front lines that walked that line between political commentary and farce that movies like M*A*S*H managed during the Viet Nam War. It's amazing that this film was made by Bosnians - it's a harsh look in the mirror. A funny scene where the Bosnian and Serb argue like kids over who started the war shows how stupid finger pointing is when people are being killed.
This film won the Jury Prize for Best Feature at Raindance. Playing Saturday (11/10) at the AFI Fest in LA at 7pm. I predict it will be nominated for best foreign film Oscar... and win. When it's released in the USA go see it - even if you have to drive to the nearest big city - it's worth it.
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