No Man's Land

Reviewed by Michael Peck
The Military Book Review

It's no surprise that an Academy Award-winning movie about the Bosnian conflict would be dramatic, tragic and funny at the same time. Not that there is anything humorous about ethnic cleansing. But there is something intrinsically absurd about civil wars, which tend to be between people who share more similarities than differences.

No Man's Land begins with a Bosnian Muslim patrol moving on a foggy night to the trenches between them and their Serbian opponents. But their foggy guide loses his way. After falling asleep in a field, they awaken the next morning to find themselves in a kill zone in front of the Serbian lines.

They are all cut down except for a soldier named Ciki and his wounded companion, who dive into an abandoned trench in the no man's land between the two sides. Nino, a young Serbian soldier, is ordered to accompany a thuggish older comrade to investigate the trench. The old Serb soldier places a land mine under the wounded Bosnian fighter, for no other reason than to kill any would-be rescuers. But Ciki kills the older Serb and takes Nino prisoner.

At this point, No Man's Land could have become a standard buddy flick, in which two foes learn to respect each other. But writer/director Danis Tanovic — perhaps it took someone from Sarajevo to do it — manages to capture the richly textured insanity of modern peacekeeping.

Enter a French sergeant with the United Nations force who tries to figure out a way to save the booby-trapped Bosnian. But he must battle against his superior — a British colonel who is loathe to leave his comfortable headquarters and get involved with the locals until a British television crew catches the scent of a story.

Meanwhile, Ciki and Nino alternately hate and bond, their mutual distaste for the war clashing with their distaste for the enemy. Forgotten is the wounded Bosnian soldier, lying on the ground with a land mine propped under his back. In the end, there are no heroes in No Man's Land, only victims.