Welcome to Sarajevo (1997)
Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 34
Fresh: 27 | Rotten: 7
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7.4/10
Critic Reviews: 10
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 2
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 4,877
My Rating
Movie Info
A startling examination of the Bosnian war of the mid-1990s and the role of journalists in covering it, this film was based on real-life journalist Michael Nicholson's book Natasha's Story. Like Nicholson, cynical journalist Henderson (Stephen Dillane) is one of the rat pack of reporters looking for gore in the streets of besieged Sarajevo. He is outraged when grandstanding reporter Flynn (Woody Harrelson) helps local citizens remove the corpse of a mother gunned down on a family outing. But the
Nov 26, 1997 Wide
Feb 3, 2004
Miramax
Watch It Now
Cast
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Stephen Dillane
Henderson -
Woody Harrelson
Flynn -
Marisa Tomei
Nina -
Kerry Fox
Jane Carson -
Emily Lloyd
Annie McGee -
James Nesbitt
Gregg -
Juliet Aubrey
Helen Henderson -
Igor Dzambazov
Jacket -
Gordana Gadzic
Mrs. Savic -
Davor Janjic
Dragon -
Emira Nusevic
Emira -
Vesna Orel
Munira -
Drazen Sivak
Zeljko -
Goran Visnjic
Risto
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All Critics (45) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (7) | DVD (4)
A crisp, rigorously unsentimental director, Winterbottom was a good choice for this project.
Top CriticA compelling but jumbled film that examines the line between journalistic detachment and passion.
Welcome to Sarajevo isn't just the story of an outsider's perspective of the conflict; it's a compelling examination of the role the media played in reporting and shaping the average person's views of the war.
Too often we sense that the actors are drifting and the story is at sea.
Messy and visceral, with an articulate, pointed anger that's recognizably British, "Welcome to Sarajevo" hits with an impact that's not diminished by the fact that Sarajevo's uneasy peace has held.
However closely they mirror the real experience of Mr. Nicholson and others, some of the shocks here are too sadly predictable.
A documentary would have more powerfully captured the horror of the Bosnian conflict than this synthetic, if well-acted and -intentioned, drama.
Good set-up; less pay-off than I'd hoped.
Winterbottom takes a recent history the rest of the world already was beginning to forget and throws it into a sharp, human focus.
It's an extraordinarily affecting, personal, and at times uplifting tale.
A blistering docudrama, as refreshing as it is horrifying.
Lifts up compassion as the quivering of the heart in the presence of pain and suffering.
Audience Reviews for Welcome to Sarajevo
Super Reviewer
Michael Winterbottom's film has its heart in the right place. Attempting to expose the violence and atrocities of war and their effects on children is admirable, but what's missing is a clear, central story arc; the film finds it about forty-five minutes into the film, but it's too late. What is more, the film is a combination of news footage and live action shots; this works, but Winterbottom over-uses the trick.
Overall, I found it hard to dislike Welcome to Sarajevo, but I must admit that the story flounders.
Super Reviewer
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- Flynn: This place feels like a virus you can't get rid of. Sometimes I feel like I'll never make it home.
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- Dragon: Everything in Sarajevo is for sale.
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- Risto: Promise me. Don't bring her back here.
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- Henderson: Us... we're like vultures.
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- Henderson: Emira has been here since she was a baby. Now she is so frightened by the shelling, she can't sleep at night. Sead's mother was killed in a mortar attack. Zaned is from a village near Sarajevo....His mother was shot while queuing for water.
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- Henderson: We're not here to help. We're here to report.
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