The filmmakers have integrated grainy news footage into the true tale of an English reporter (portrayed by Stephen Dillane) who, virtually subconsciously, begins conspiring to smuggle an orphaned Bosnian girl out of the hellhole of besieged Sarajevo. Also integrated into the film are the video-recorded pronouncements of World politicians who (in the context of this story) come off as 'liars, and worse (to put it mildly).

Visually, this film is the gore-level equivalence of a slasher film. Frequently the characters of this story, as they travel through the shell-pocked streets of Sarajevo, come upon sniper victims here and there: middle-aged women, children, old people. Life in the city has become nightmarish and surreal, where a wedding party becomes a massacre, and as an event it's all quite "normal."

There is a great deal of bitter humour in the film. The Sarajevians, after learning that the pompous UN rep sent to investigate their situation finds their city only the 14th worst place on earth, joke endlessly about what it will take to get to the number one spot. Woody Harrelson is on hand as an American reporter with a gonzo sensibility, witty quips, and sunglasses.

Actually, politics play the least of roles in this story. Nothing is explained particularly about the situation other than that one group of people are trying desperately to annihilate another, whereas another group wants to merely get on with shopping, baking, local gossip, and to not get killed by a sniper.

Because the news footage is genuine, the gore and brutality has an edge not usually found in the phantasy of a horror movie. A lot of my time during this showing was spent feeling my guts spin in revulsion. The rest of the audience was galvanized enough to clap heartily at the tale's end - an eerie denouement to so much bloodshed.

Rated "A" for atrocity.
Written by Erik Weems
January 1998