I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

"Harrison's Flowers" is about a photojournalist (David Strathairn) named Harrison Lloyd who is presumed dead when a building he was in collapses in Yugoslavia. His wife (Andie MacDowell), a journalist for Newsweek, believes that he is alive and goes to Yugoslavia to try and find him. She's not prepared for what she sees when she gets there.This is a good movie about a heroic, determined woman, and what she has to endure to find her husband. The depiction of the warring factions and photojournalists is highly inaccurate, though the actual scenarios of death, bombings, and shootings are probably right for any war.I didn't mind Andie MacDowell as much as some, presuming that any woman thrown into this kind of situation is going to experience some kind of traumatic shock - heavy emoting would probably be inappropriate. Nevertheless, she doesn't have much presence. Adrien Brody is excellent as Kyle, and David Strathairn is wonderful as Harrison. The flowers analogy is quite moving - Harrison is depicted as a gentle man who has a greenhouse, and in his absence, their son works in it. The flowers become a symbol of hope.With some research for accuracy and the casting of a stronger actress, someone like Michelle Pfeiffer, perhaps, this film could have been much better.

I hardly ever watch movies with ex-Yugoslavia war theme. I know they are always one-sided, and somehow I thought this one would be different. I was wrong.While it rather nicely portrays horrors of war, why does it have to be only one side in the war that does wrong, awful things. There are quite a lot of American movies showing Americans doing horrible things in wars, but when the Serbs are around, nobody else is bad. I'm far from saying Serbs did nothing wrong, but, has any of Hollywood filmmakers ever did any actual research before making a movie about war in ex-Yugoslavia?? There is a moment in this movie when Brody says something like "there are no good and bad guys here, they're all the same" and it gave me hope that I've actually chosen a decent movie. However, just a bit later I was proved wrong... Awful!

The love story of this movie is so silly (someone already wrote it in previous comments). Also, the story about war in Yugoslavia, about Croatian and Serbian people is so wrong. It can't be that only Serbs did things that are shown in the movie. The truth is that Croatian people did the same awful things and they are not shown in the movie in the right way. Do you know how many innocent Serbs, women, children, were killed by Croatian army in so terrible way?If you decide to see this movie i would like to recommend you first to inform your self about this war and to find out a true story about it. I wouldn't recommend this movie.

This movie must be seen as a love story more than anything else, and it works as a love story. However, to get an accurate picture of the war between Yugoslavia and Croatia, Harrison's Flowers is not suited. Those familiar with the history of the former Yugoslavia know that war crimes took place in and around Vukovar, and in 1991-92, Serbian nationalist paramilitaries of Arkan were responsible for heinous crimes. However, the movie is very one-sided, and Serbians are presented as half-drunk criminal villains while Croatians get the image of brave freedom fighters. In fact, the vast majority of movies portray Serbians as the villains, but I would claim that Croatians are maybe even more nationalistic than the Serbs. Those who watch the movie should know that Croatians were also responsible for killing civilians, especially during Operation Storm in 1995.I have gained operational experience myself as a war correspondent, and I know what is like to be under fire from mortars, artillery and snipers. Therefore I was very surprised to see how the reporters and photographers from the movie entered Vukovar wearing military camouflages trying to hide from snipers. I don't know any reporters who would do it like this because it makes you a legitimate target, and I doubt experienced reporters from Newsweek would do it like that. The goal of a journalist in a war area is to be seen. Yes, sometimes you have to avoid checkpoints to get to the other side, but to wear a military uniform is very, very stupid.Now it has been a couple of days since I wrote my review, and there was another thing that bothered me in this movie. Sarah lands in the city of Graz in Austria making her way all through Croatia to get to Vukovar. If she really wanted to save her husband, it would have been a lot easier to get to Belgrade. From Belgrade there is only a two-hour drive to Vukovar, and the city was controlled by the Serbs at this point. I just spoke to a friend of mine who was an officer in Vukovar, and he said it would have been no problem for the character in the movie to get to Vukovar. Even if there were some paramilitaries present, the Yugoslav army, JNA, was in control.For more about the Battle of Vukovar, Wikipedia has an interesting article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vukovar