Palmerston North Film Society: No Man's Land

Directed by Danis Tanovic
Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2001, 98mins

This crowd-pleasing black comedy won the 2002 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. A Bosnian Muslim and Serb find themselves stranded in no man's land at the height of the Balkan conflict in 1993. Although neither is a natural born killer, they get sucked into the spiral of violence - only exacerbated by the self-serving manoeuvres of politicians and press.

Two wounded soldiers, a Bosniak (Čiki) and a Bosnian Serb (Nino) 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 Bosniak soldier (Cera) who wakes from unconsciousness. A land mine had been buried beneath him by the Bosnian Serbs; should he make any move, it would be fatal.

The great Yiddish humourist Sholem Aleichem tells the story of a Jewish soldier brought up on charges of not firing during a battle. Asked to defend himself, the man says he was ordered to shoot when he saw the enemy. ‘But I never saw the enemy,’ he explains. ‘I just saw people.’

Bosnian writer-director Danis Tanovic has that same gift for seeing humanity where others do not. His exceptional debut feature, No Man's Land, is a savage comedy about the war in the former Yugoslavia that artfully mixes comic absurdism with a passion for what's right and a concern for the individuality of all concerned.

"Tanovic's script, which he shot in Slovenia, is both complex and simple, mixing a carefully worked-out series of rapidly changing, unexpected events with a thoughtful, philosophical overview. And though it has opportunities to do so, the film refuses to take the easy way out." — Kenneth Turan, LA Times

“Shooting in bright, clear colours, cinematographer Walther Vanden Ende suggests a cartoonish quality to the war. The polished cast of thesps also brush the black humour that is never far from this tragic tale. Although the hatred between Čiki and Nino grows the longer they're together, comic relief keeps the atmosphere from turning too dark. The film's most subtle credit is the score, composed by Tanovic.” – Deborah Young, Variety

Did you know? UNPROFOR stands for the United Nations Protection Force.

One screening only. Members only. Palmerston North Film Society Membership is available at the door before each screening and lasts for one full year.