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NO MAN'S LAND Send This Review to a Friend
The recent fighting in the Balkans comes back to haunt us in a war story that has allegorical implications. Danis Tanovic's "No Man's Land," which was showcased at the Toronto International Film Festival (2001) and copped the best screenplay award at the Cannes International Film Festival, comes down to a hazardous situation. Two men, Branko Djuric as Ciki, a Bosnian, and Rene Bitorajac as Nino, a Serb, are trapped between warring sides. The worst plight falls to Cera (Filip Sovagovic), a Bosnian soldier who is lying on a bomb that will go off if he moves. Can he be saved? Can anyone be saved from the kind of symbolic dilemma posed by such crazy situations that the world periodically faces?
As the tension builds, a TV Journalist named Jane Livingstone, aggressively played by Katrin Cartlidge, pursues her quest for a story. Her presence illustrates another force to be contended with--the press--and she serves as a threat of exposure to the international forces trying to manipulate the situation. I don't want to tip off what happens, but the ultimate villainy falls to those who act in the name of expedience rather than in the cause of principle.
George Siatidis is effective as the UN's Sergeant Marchand, a man who cares. Simon Callow is effective in a different way as Colonel Soft, who is more geared to the so-called larger picture. There is an element of comedy of the absurd in the story, but the stakes are too high for one to escape with laughter. "No Man's Land" is a tough film, but it does tend to grow somewhat tiresome despite the life-and-death tension that builds. A United Artists release.
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