Number 239 on IMDb's Top 250
Two wounded soldiers, one Bosnian and one Serbian are caught between their lines in the no man's land, in a struggle for survival. The two soldiers confront each other in a trench, where they wait for dark. They trade insults and even find some common ground. Confounding the situation is another wounded Bosnian soldier who wakes from unconsciousness. A landmine had been buried beneath him by the Serbs. Should he make any move, it would be fatal. A French sergeant, of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), gets involved in effort to help the three trapped soldiers, despite initial orders to the contrary by high command. UNPROFOR's mission in Bosnia was to guard the humanitarian aid convoys, to remain neutral and act as more a bystander. However, an English reporter arrives on scene, bringing media pressure to bear that moves the United Nations high command to swing in to action to try to save the soldiers. Hilarity ensues.
Trivia: Believe it or not I can't find any trivia on this movie, so here is a link the the Wikipedia entry for the Bosnian War.
When I first read the description of this movie, I didn't see it as a dark comedy, but that is what it turned out to be. Just goes to show you, you can't judge a movie by its title, which is why I want to see Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death! Okay, I guess that is probably only me, back to this flick. There is also supposedly a lot of irony in this film...I don't see it. It would have ironic if the soldier who placed the bouncing mine under the other soldier would be killed with that same mine, he wasn't. (Warning Spoilers ahead) the closest to irony that I can find is that the Bosnian soldier is killed be the UN soldiers that he called for help, but he fired his gun toward them (he was aiming and succeeding at shooting the Serbian soldier), or the English reporter going all the way to the trench and not getting the story that the soldier laying on the mine couldn't be moved because there was no way to defuse the mine and was left to die by the UN who told the reporters that he was in fact saved so basically lied to them. (End Spoilers here) The problem with irony is that almost no one uses it correctly, kind of ironic, I guess.
Next Up: Doctor Zhivago, A Love Caught in the Fire of Revolution (but does the revolution have to last 3 1/2 hours?)
Posts
1 comment:
They could have gotten the soldier off the mine by dropping tons of dirt on it as soon as they jerked him off the mine so that the weight would be redistributed and the mine wouldn't blow up....kind of like the end of CSI where my favorite character, Nick, was buried alive and almost blown to smitherins. Oh, what you can do in the movies.
OK, I've seen Doctor Zhivago just recently, so I'm looking forward to your review.
Post a Comment