No Man's Land is a war time film written and directed by Danis Tanovic who is from the Bosnia and Herzegovina area. The story begins with Serbian relief soldiers trying to find their way to the trenches in the middle of a foggy night. They eventually stop to wait for the morning, but when they wake up they find themselves very close to the Bosnian trenches, which open fire on them and kill all but two of the soldiers. Of the two soldiers only ones becomes conscious before the Bosnian troops sent to investigate arrive in the middle trench. The other one is placed on top of a bouncing mine, which will explode once the soldier gets off of it. Ciki the other soldier kills one of the Bosnian men and wounds and disarms the other one, Nino. Soon after the other Serb, Cera, wakes up to find out that he is a living booby trap. Ciki forces Nino to undress down to his boxers and wave a white flag while standing up out of the trench. Neither side knows if Nino is one of theirs and the Bosnians decide to open artillery fire upon them just to make sure it wasnt a Serbian. Later both Ciki and Nino undress and wave white flags, leading both sides to call the UN Protection Force to check it out. This leads Sgt. Marchand a member of the French UN Protection Force to go check out the scene even though he was told not to. Also an English reporter, Jane Livingston, overhears the calls to the UN and heads to the scene. Once Marchand gets there he and his men are forced to return home even though they did not acconplish anything. On the way he meets Jane who already knows who he is and what he is doing. During this encounter she gets on the UN radio and talks to Marchand's superiors about how the UNPF is failing to act upon what they should. This forces Marchand's superiors to give send him back to the trenches and try to save the three soldiers. Also more men are sent to help including a German mine expert, many more reporters also hear about what is going on and decide to join on the journey to the trenches. Once everyone arrives the trenches are cleared of everyone except Cera and the German mine expert, who tells the captain of the UNPF that it is impossible to disarm the mine under Cera and save him. Meanwhile Ciki and Nino grow to despise each other even more and evetually it ends in bloodshed with both of them dying, Nino by the hands of Ciki and Ciki by the hands of one of the French UN forces. The story comes to a close as all the parties pull out and the reporters being led to believe that Cera was rescued off the mine and transported away.
This film shows the struggle for control in the region on two very different scales. First it shows us the armies of each and their struggle to take the trenches on the opposing side and gain ground. But in the middle of the war is a struggle for power between Ciki and Nino. In the beginning Ciki has a gun and tells Nino what to do. When Nino asks Ciki why he responds "because I hace a gun and you don't." Later Nino gets the gun from Ciki and begins to tell him what to do, when Ciki asks why at one point Nino gives him the same response. Neither men can agree to who started the war, each blaming the other one for it. The film remains unbiased about the conflict, but shows neither side actually comprehends who begin the war. Eventually both Nino and Ciki have guns until the UNPF shows up and takes both of their weapons away and tries to keep them from each other as much as possible. This does not work out well when Ciki opens fire on Nino with a handgun he found and kills him. One of the French UN forces shoots and kills Ciki in to try and stop him, in turn killing him.
Many different languages were used in the film including French, English, Bosnian, and some German. This shows a lot of globalization within the film along with the characters being from many different backgrounds and cultures. When the French UN soldiers would meet with troops from another side they would always have to ask what languages they spoke, some would know a little English, or French, or neither most of the time. While no language is internationaly spoken this film portrays how much globalization has reached the Bosnia-Serbia region just through the use of so many different languages in and aound the region.
You gave a very thorough review and analysis of the movie. I like that you paid attention to both the local and global aspects of the film. You emphasizing that neither man really knew whose side started the war, but both were ready to blame the other. You also pointed to the use of several languages and the barrier in communications that this often caused. Did you note any other parts of the film that indicated globalization, though?
ReplyDelete-Samantha Thomson
This is a very long and detailed post. Great job in including so much information! The plot summary could have been a lot more succinct, though.
ReplyDeleteGood comments on globalization being represented in the film via the many nationalities represented. Your comments about what seems to be the message of the film are pretty spot on.
You could have commented on the cinematic effects of the film to make this review even more effective in the context of this class.
I like how you, in the end, pointed out the globalization characteristic in the film. Your summary was well detailed and you truly only revealed the messages and content in the end. Personally, if there was anyone to blame in the conflict, I believe it was Ciki, who had the craze of wanting to kill Nino in the beginning, who truly escalated such conflicts. Nino was not really a man of war until he picked up the gun that Ciki had, and truly it was Ciki who drove Nino to his own insanity of conflict with Ciki.
ReplyDeleteI did not like the British news reporter, I believe it is people like her, who I may give credit to revealing the crisis, cause these drama and hardships. She bashed the UN forces for a time during the movie and it truly was not necessary to do so, that is also why I am not a big fan of news reporters anyways, they seem to add conflict, and blame people for situations that are not even their own.
The end was pretty tragic when they left Cera to die, but there was nothing they could do to help him, he was stuck, and that wasn't the UN's fault but a fault of the regional conflict that has happened. It's pretty tragic what happened over in those countries, I feel bad for the ethnicity issues they have and that still rage on today.
Great job with your post. You may want to limit the synopsis of the plot a little bit. However, the rest of your response was great. I liked how you focused on the continuous change of power throughout the film. Did you find it ironic that only once neither of the men had guns they decided to kill each other? You seem to have a great understanding of this film.
ReplyDelete- Reagan Eggert
The plot summary is too long and gives away the ending of the movie. The plot summary is full and detailed, but it should be only a few sentences. I can tell you understand the film, but the long summary loses my attention. Try to write a much shorter summary and use more space to address your arguments.
ReplyDeleteI think the use of many languages is very indicative of the reality of the conflict. The Bosnians and Serbs spoke the same language, leading to easy communication between the two trapped soldiers, but everyone else is left in the dark much of the time. This language barrier created a very difficult situation for the anyone wanting make a humanitarian effort to save these soldiers. Notice, however, how the media manages to cross all language barriers and incite action on the part of the UN.
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