I’m not very familiar with a lot of the intricacies of any war, and movies probably aren’t the best medium to become educated in such things. Films are much better at the personalities and the external events, but at the very least, a good film about a war can illuminate certain heroics or absurdities of a particular conflict. No Man’s Land brings out a few absurdities, and then some.

The film takes place during the Bosina-Serbian conflict from a number of years ago. As the film begins, we see a small group of soldiers (from which side, I forget) roaming about the countryside. In the morning, they discover that they are right on No Man’s Land, the physical area between the two warring factions, and soon enough, they are getting shot at.

Most of these people die, except for one fellow who manages to hide in the trenches, nursing a gunshot wound in the shoulder. He notices a captain from the other side, who has a novice solider along with him. The captain performs a demonstration of a very ingenious grenade -- the way it works is if a weight of some sort is removed from the grenade, then it blows up. The captain demonstrates by placing the body of the other side’s soldiers on the grenade, so when they go to pick up the body -- boom!!

But the injured solider hears all this, and shoots the captain dead, and injures the young guy. He tries to get the young solider to tell him how to get out of the trench safely, but it doesn’t work. The young guy insists that the dead captain had all the necessary information.

Suddenly, noise comes from the body. Turns out that the guy lying on the grenade is still alive, and, instead of trying to get out of the trench, the guy’s buddy has to do all he can to make the guy lie still before blowing himself and everyone else away. Both these guys know that they have to do something about this situation, so they do the best they can in trying to get the attentions of both sides.

The soldiers on either side don’t know exactly what the hell is going on (all they can gather is that here are these two guys dancing around in their boxers!) so they both try to contact the United Nations, little suspecting that this situation will soon become a major incident......

At first, the incident involves merely bureaucratic matters. Some of the soldiers on the ground are willing to help out, and try to get the guy on the grenade to safety, but the soldiers boss (getting his orders from higher up) force them to turn back. But soon, a roaming TV crew meets up with these soldiers ..... turns out that the TV crew were able to intercept the supposedly private UN radio signals. This potential for embarrassment forces to the UN to save face, and to try to solve the situation... or at least make it look as if they are trying......

As you may have noticed, I’m sounding quite vague about who’s who in the conflict. All this is due to my infamously selective memory. But perhaps it doesn’t matter all that much, since one side isn’t really all that more important than the other. Every faction in a war wants something above everybody else’s concerns, and the soldiers -- the guys who have to do all the dirty work -- are all the same. They are just ordinary people caught up in the events and in the propaganda and desires of their “bosses”. The two guys in this film are clearly not fully able to think for themselves -- they keep blaming each other for starting the war, as if these two insignificant individuals had that sort of influence. They keep threatening to kill each other numerous times, and never think that perhaps all their little petty beliefs about religion and ethnic superiority and such are, well, just petty.

Yet there is one -- and only one -- moment in which these two guys see eye to eye on something, and that is when they discover that they knew the same girl from years ago. At this moment you will think that perhaps these two guys will start to discover some common ground, and see beyond their narrow situation. But it is not to be....... this is not some sappy Hollywood picture. In real life, people such as these harbour pointless grudes seemingly forever, and it doesn’t change here......

The movie’s trailer, on the DVD, is rather interesting, because it gives us the impression that the film will be a jolly old time, which it is most definitely not. Sure, the film has some moments of bitter humor, but to call this film a “comedy” would be missing the mark. The first sequences of the film do contain typical war play, as many of the main character’s partners get killed, and there’s enough violent tension in the trenches to lessen any attempt at chuckles. And the ending isn’t so pleasant either.

Nevertheless, there is some good humor, which fits with the story line, and makes the movie less of a dry slog. There’s a lot of silly gags about language, in which French guys and Serbian guys try to speak to each other in very bad English ( the scene in which the French UN guys try to get past the guards is priceless), and there is also some dark humor to be had in the situation of the guy on the grenade. He’s hurt, he’s hungry... and sometimes he gets itchy, and has to go to the bathroom. What’s he to do? I find that movies containing such material tend to work better, if done well (think of some of Billy Wilder’s movies, which have all sorts of cynical and funny bits, but which, for the most part, aren’t “comedies” per se), as opposed to a film in which nothing off-the-wall or amusing occurs. Sometimes, good points can be made better through satire or other forms of humour, than through a “serious” scene.

What’s amazing is the treatment of the United Nations. This organization is not depicted as neutral and noble, but are as politically motivated, and just as selfish, as anything else. The UN doesn’t want to look as if they are willing to let a poor guy die, even though in reality they do not want to get involved. And when they do get involved, they are more worried about maintaining their perfect image than about maintaining honesty, no matter what happens. In any case, those people who do not like the UN will probably relish the portrait here.

Overall, No Man’s Land is a fine and deeply cynical film that, as with most decent films about war, shows us that war is a lot more complicated than just good guys and bad guys. Of course, we all ought to know that, but sometimes we ought to be reminded once in a while.....


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV