Film Review – Welcome To Sarajevo

Directed by Michael Winterbottom.

The irony of the title “Welcome to Sarajevo” is an early indication that this is not a film which attempts to romanticise or elevate war. Instead the film, based on the true experiences of British war correspondent Michael Nicholson, focuses on the random brutality and chaos which faced the inhabitants of Sarajevo during the 1992 siege. The audience is taken inside the city, and given a ‘behind the scenes’ portrayal of events which became the news reports on our television screens.

“Welcome to Sarajevo” cleverly cuts between news footage and ‘reality’ and raises difficult questions about the moral responsibilities of those reporting on the war. Michael Henderson (Stephen Dillane) is a hard-nosed journalist who initially seems determined to separate his job from the violence which surrounds him. When flamboyant American journalist Flynn (Woody Harrelson) calmly walks into the line of fire to help move a civilian wounded by snipers into safety, Henderson’s curt response is, “We’re not here to help, we’re here to report”. But the cruelty of the war gradually softens his professional detachment and he becomes deeply affected by the plight of the children of Sarajevo. By bringing the children of the Ljubica Ivezic orphanage to the world’s attention he hopes that they will be evacuated from the dangerous frontline of the siege. The contrast between the terror of their situation, and the rigid diplomacy of the political leaders of the time, whose comments are presented in actual news footage, is a clear depiction of the world’s apathetic reaction to the conflict.

Henderson eventually steps uncertainly over the line between impartial observer and involved participant, and makes the decision to adopt an 11 year old girl so that she can escape Sarajevo and return with him to England. Their bus journey out of Sarajevo, with an aid worker (played convincingly by Marisa Tomei) and a group of orphans is a tense and harrowing odyssey. The burnt-out hotels and vacant tower blocks they pass seem full of threat, and are a reminder of Sarajevo’s transformation from cosmopolitan city to the scene of urban warfare.

While the film concentrates on the day-to-day existence of foreign journalists (New Zealander Kerry Fox stars as Henderson’s co-worker, wearing a distinctive bone-carving pendant), and the compelling effect the war has on their lives, the tragic character Risto is representative of the native inhabitants. He is employed as Henderson’s driver and translator, and finds himself witness to the horrific bloodshed of his own people, as he accompanies the reporters to scenes of civilian slaughter. The gore of these sequences is not for the squeamish. Risto and his bohemian friends are shown as the desperate remnants of Sarajevo’s intellectuals, now reduced to a primitive level of survival. Risto burns his books to stay warm explaining philosophically that for special occasions he chooses special books. The film suggests, not so subtly, that art and beauty are being snuffed out by the violence and cruelty of war.

“Welcome to Sarajevo” tackles some big themes but it doesn’t wallow in gloom or sentimentality, and the black humour running throughout the film, often provided by Woody Harrelson’s Flynn, prevents it from becoming over earnest. The soundtrack is a superbly judged addition to its visual and emotional impact. This thought provoking film may not help us to understand why the war in Bosnia occurred but it provides a vivid picture of how it happened on a human level.

You may also wish to read this related NZine article: From Sarajevo to New Zealand –
Ahmed Kafedzic is no stranger to dramatic change—from success and wealth to the horrors of the siege of Sarajevo and then to being a refugee in Christchurch, New Zealand…