Just so...so bad

It is a performances centric movie

Better Late Then Never

A Brilliant Conflict

It's 1992 Sarajevo. Reporters are navigating the random everyday violence in the besieged city. Michael Henderson (Stephen Dillane) is a British ITN reporter. Jane Carson (Kerry Fox) and Annie McGee (Emily Lloyd) are the producers. Risto Bavic (Goran Visnjic) is their new fixer. Jimmy Flynn (Woody Harrelson) is the flashy hard-charging American reporter doing big stories. Michael starts doing stories on orphanages to shame the international community. He meets aid worker Nina (Marisa Tomei) who organizes an UN convoy to transport the orphans.This is more advocacy than story. The real situation is devastating and needs to be told. The movie needs a more compelling cohesive plot. Stephen Dillane is a solid character actor but he's not really a movie leading man. Woody Harrelson is not in this that much and Marisa Tomei is in it even less. There are harrowing things happening in this movie. It uses news footage. It compiles a dark picture but the story is not gripping enough.

Welcome to Sarajevo is the result of a good effort but it is just not gripping like similar movies such as The Year of Living Dangerously. First of all, Woody Harreslson has like a bit part. He isn't even part of any of the major plot movements. He actually stands out like a sore thumb as some dumb, drunk, slightly retarded journalist with absolutely no purpose staggering around in a war zone. Second of all, since the majority of the film centers around trying to get children out of Sarajevo, it probably would have been more fitting to call it "Goodbye Sarajevo." I remember watching the events unfold on the news when this crisis was actually happening, and I have to say I got a better understanding of the situation from that than from this film. Granted, this is a beautifully shot film and it's not the worst war movie ever made, but, oh, it could have been so much more if it actually even attempted to shed some light on the horrors of the siege beyond depicting corpses spilling cherry syrup out of their heads in the street. Very little is explained. Like for example, why and how did the "driver" get shot. Or what was up with that scene during which the reporter dude against better advise just follows some stranger who doesn't even speak English into a room only to get mugged as warned. I couldn't really follow it and therefore didn't really enjoy Welcoem to Sarajevo.

The Bosnian War was one of the most brutal war in recent years, with hundred thousands people being killed, and Bosnians and Muslims were killed. It was a conflicted that showed the weakness of the UN, and took time for the West to get involved. Sarajevo itself became a war zone the centre because a no-mans land.Welcome to Sarajevo starts in the early days of the Bosnian war in 1992. Sarajevo is besieged by the Serbian forces and Bosnians are being rounded up to locked up or killed. An ITN reporter Michael Henderson (Stephen Dillane) is assigned to cover the war-zone. Sarajevo is a place where snipers are hunting on the roof-tops and shooting people who dare cross the streets: including children and journalists. In the city Michael befriends Flynn (Woody Harrelson), a American journalist who has a seemingly uncaring attitude, but is really interested about the people. Michael ends up reporting about an orphanage and the children on the frontline. He becomes very involved with the story, reporting on it every night and start a campaign to get governments involves. When a Children's Charities is able to evacuate some children and babies to relatives abroad and in Italy Michael becomes involved. He ends up taking a care of one nine year old girl, Emira (Emira Nusevic), who ends up living with his family based in London.This film is based on a true story, with some names and events changed to moral and dramatic reasons. But the issues of the film is the same. Michael Henderson was bit like Oscar Schlinder, an ordinary person thrown into a extraordinary circumstances. But the twist is as a journalist he was not meant to get too involved, but he broke that golden rule of journalism. It is a film about the ethics of journalism and when someone should get involved with the issues there are reporting. The film is also about the war, and random killings that happened in the conflict. Civilians were hurt and killed and non-Serbs were rounded up. Serbia has always seen itself as a nation that had a right in nations like Bosnia and Crotia, and wanting to ensure power for the Serbian minorities. Serbia has often been a power broker in the region since World War I. Sarajevo itself was a shell of a city, with it being a live and death struggle. Electricity cuts are normal, and water supplies are short. But some people still try and make a go of it in the city until the fighting increases. The film is also about the inaction of the UN. They were late getting involved, and even the troops there didn't do much at first. The West were reluctant to get involving, fearing that it would be a propaganda coup for the Serbs. This was not a good time for Western nations and the UN at this point in history.The acting in this film was excellent, as expected. No one let the film down. They was a fine tort script, preventing the film getting bogged down, and find direction by Michael Winterbottom. They are some shocking and surprise moments, giving the film a more edgy film, and the use of hand-held cameras added to the realist feel. There are some continuous shots which I live and good editing. The use of news footage was also fitting and well done, giving the audience some background information and showing the wider affects of the war with the international community. However, I think some of Winterbottom's music choices were ill-fitting. He used some classic pop song which felt out of context. It does sometimes work, like in Vietnam war film, but that is normally to show the sixties setting and because the films have a longer timeline.However, this is a worthy film about an important war. If you like this then I also recommend Hotel Rwanda and Shooting Dogs are essential viewing.

This film is about a group of journalist covering the news of the war in Sarajevo. They have decided to take the matter into their own hands as the West fails to do anything about it."Welcome to Sarajevo" is a striking, engaging and saddening drama. It is raw, brutal, and it evokes so much emotions in me. The usage of real documentary footage in the film enhances the realism and shock effect of the film. Indeed, it is hard to watch all the dead bodies on the roadside. And the United Nations spokesman saying there are thirteen places worse than Sarajevo provokes so much anger in me. The bureaucracy is scandalous and heinous. It is so hard to see lives lost, dreams shattered and cities destroyed. One of Flynn's lines about if the attacking side was reversed may well be right. Apart from raising awareness, sympathy, despair and anger, "Welcome to Sarajevo" also looks at ethical issues of who is to decide what is right for the people. "Welcome to Sarajevo" is engaging and well made. It deserves more attention than it is getting.