Neutrality does not mean doing nothing…. Review on No Man's Land Movie

Forethought: Lagaan was a great movie; India’s only entrant to the Oscars last year. I wished and prayed like most devout Indians that it should walk away with the Oscar for the best foreign language film. I was disappointed when the jury selected No Man’s land. I almost thought it was biased. So when I came across this movie, I decided to give it a try, so that I could reassure myself that, Lagaan was the better movie and this movie which was set in the year 1993 and talked about the Balkan wars was not necessarily the best movie under the category of the best foreign language film.

Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes

Rating: Parental guidance required

Awards:

Golden globe Best Foreign film

Special Jury award for screenplay at Cannes

Oscar for the best foreign language film.

The Plot:

A relief team of Bosnians, caught in thick fog on a dark night don’t really know where they are heading to. After they realize that their wandering can be more harmful than otherwise, they decide to sleep by a tree. The first ray of morning sun not only brings some warmth but also the bad news that they are right in the enemy’s territory. They make an attempt to escape the enemy snipers, but not with much luck. The final two are just about to be in the clear when a tank shell bursts just near them throwing them both towards the trench in the NO MAN’S LAND.

A Serbian search team (of two soldiers) trying to capture survivors if any crawls on its stomach to the trench, carefully avoiding the mines that are planted all over the area. After a brief tussle, one Serbian and one Bosnian find themselves in the Trench, along with the third (another Bosnian), lying on a bouncer mine that could explode and kill all of them if he moved. The power centre in the trench keeps shifting depending on who has the possession of the AK-47. They make a couple of attempts at trying to get outside help. Though both the armies in their posts can see the men calling out for help, they prefer calling the UN peace keeping force as they are not sure as to which side the men belong to. Amidst arguments, threats and attempts at each others life, the men from opposite camps, realize that they did share a few aspirations, fears, emotions…. Even a girlfriend!!!

Add to this situation a lady journalist, who is looking for a scoop, indecisive superiors and the great language problems UN peace keeping force has to deal with and two enemy camps that are going for each others blood….

The movie zips ahead at a gripping pace till it reaches its tragic but logical end.

The Opinion: Brilliant, and then there are no more words in my vocabulary to describe this peach of a movie. It is a movie about war, it is about the mad rush for territorial advantages, it is about woes that befall us due to indecisiveness that engulfs people in responsible positions, it is about how callous and indifferent humans can be when blinded by fanatic beliefs, its about how, most people are interested in just pursuing personal agendas….it is a movie about you and me!!! For a movie made with war as its background, NML is steeped in humor. Humor that runs right through the movie is quite an interesting approach. That’s what sets this one apart from the countless war movies I have seen. The humor ranges from pure wit to stinging satire. Though there is not much suspense, thrill or special effects the narrative never slackens. The director does not use hard hitting, long winding dialogues to put through his views. Instead the movie puts across its message to the viewers in a subtle but touching manner. I wonder if it tried to tell the audience “laugh at war, laugh at death…that’s the best you and I can do about it.”

The cast turns out an impressive performance. Branko Djuric, Rene Bitorajac and Filip Sovagovic are brilliant as the three men in the Trench. Katrin Cartlidge as the nosey journalist and Georges Siatidis as the kind hearted but ineffective (due to orders from the top) UN sergeant, come up trumps with their roles. Simon Callow as the “keep myself out of trouble” Colonel of UN peacekeeping force is good.

The music is unobtrusive and the photography more than adequate if not outstanding. The director (who has also written the movie) Danis Tanovic is brilliant to say the least. I have always felt that subtitles take away the charm of the movie. If NML had such a deep influence on me even when I could not catch the dialogues (and had to rely on subtitles) I can imagine what the movie would do to people who understand the language.

Afterthought: Be it the relevance to the happenings in today’s world or for the pure impact the movie has on you, I am now convinced that this movie deserved the Oscar. If Lagaan lost, I guess it did to a worthy opponent.

The movie reiterates the futility of war. It does so with thought provoking humor. It does so not with graphics or special effects but by portraying the helplessness of human beings…with great deal of subtlety. In its own way it urges us to make a choice, either say “TO HELL WITH WAR” or accept to go “WITH WAR…TO HELL”