| Branco
Djuric, Rene Bitorajac, Filip Sovagovic , Katrin Cartlidge, Simon
Callow, Serge-Henri Valcke
The grim futility of the war between
Bosnia and Serbia is reduced to its essence as two enemy soldiers
are forced to share a wary trust for one another in this drama.
A group of Bosnian soldiers are advancing upon Serbian territory
during a misty night when the fog lifts at daybreak, making them
plainly visible to their enemy. Serb forces open fire upon them,
and soon only Chiki (Brancko Djuric) is still alive, after diving
into a trench in no man's land. Two Serbian soldiers scouting the
area set up a land mine using the body of a Bosnian soldier as "bait;"
if moved, the mine will jump into the air and explode. Chiki watches
as the soldiers set the trap, and furious at the disrespect to his
fallen comrades, he kills one of the Serbs, and takes the other,
Nino (Rene Bitorajac), hostage. With both soldiers alone and equally
armed, they find themselves at a stalemate, and begin trying to
attract help from either side. Eventually, the two men are found
by a squadron of French soldiers attached to a U.N. peacekeeping
unit; now held by supposedly neutral forces, Chiki and Nino are
with the French troops when it's discovered that the dead Bosnian
soldier isn't dead after all, though no one is sure how to disarm
the mine without killing him in the process. No Man's Land was the
debut feature from Bosnian writer and director Danis Tanovic. |