Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Blistering performances.

Welcome to Sarajevo (1997)directed by Michael Winterbottom is an official selection in 1997 FESTIVAL DE CANNES and was also runner up for Golden Palm. Three days ago I knew nothing about Sarajevo, except I knew a little about "SARAJEVO FILM FESTIVAL. I had a lucid dream on August 1st 2013 that, "I am in the city of SARAJEVO, This dream was as clear as real life, I was able to observe the buildings, Monuments, Restaurants, Cafes, People everything. It was an amazing experience, and above all I was able to remember everything in the same vivid form when I woke up." I did Image search on Google to verify the images from my dreams and this is how I came to know about The Film "Welcome To Sarajevo" and than I managed to watch it.The Visuals in the film penetrated my feeling and my whole existence as a human. The Film is based on Bosnian War from 1992 to 1996, During this period Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was besieged by the Army of Republika Srpska. The film exactly doesn't discuss the cause of the Bosnian war, It is more a personal interpretation of ITN reporter Henderson, his cameraman Greg and producer Jane Carson who is reporting the war in SARAJEVO. But many sequences of mass killing & ethnic cleansing in the film which i think has been grabbed form the original news footage of brutality of Serb soldiers.When we see a war film, I think there is something more important than the plot, treatment, performance of the Actors or Visual effects etc. I feel that the lessons of the dark sides of time and history it is trying to deliver us must be taken very seriously. And we must not consider it as any other ordinary film we watch in our everyday life. The Bosnian war is the most recent page written in black letters in the history of Europe. And after watching "Welcome to Sarajevo" I was able to develop a personal point of view about the design of war in human Life. I am taking this film just as an example, But I am talking in general. As humans we think that we are divided and discriminated geographically, and in cast, religion, race and In Majority or minorities. But I think it's an illusion which has been created for us from ancient times to perceive the world in this way. So, that we should never unite. In reality the world is discriminated in three parts - 1. Who has access to all the resources in the world, and owns all the muscle power. 2. The middle class people, who serve the existence of the 1st category. 3.Who only relies on the kindness of the first two category, they don't even have access to basic resources food, cloth, shelter etc. Except the first category other two hold no power or authority. They are just like puppets. They are meant to live on the mercy of the government or the extremist and they have to die with the wish of the government and the extremist. And it is like that because we have no will and we have never been able to develop the will against the government or the extremist. The war is the most lucrative business for politicians and capitalist and The news and stories of war is the most sell-able and entertaining. And while sitting in a warm comfortable room who cares about causalities of war happens in the front line.What I am trying to say that we need to develop the resistance and strength against the will of the group of people who sponsor war and causalities. Else like SARAJEVO any city in the world could become next hellish city for a while. It is time to go against the patterns we have been following. It seems completely awkward to me that The priest bless the Weapons and Soldiers and the same priest ask the people to be generous and kind and compassionate. What a contradiction ?,Yes ! People should be kind and compassionate so, they should be killed easily. We must develop our knowledge and inner understanding, So that we can understand the intent of the people who try to control everything in the world. Being the follower of extremist belief or sect will only give birth to more stories of war & brutality. By referring to the climax of "Welcome to Sarajevo"with a "concert of peace" on a hill overlooking Sarajevo, Where Harun playing his cello to hundreds of Sarajevans. I appeal to pray for peace in the world. I recommend to include this film in the film study course by all the film schools in the world because of it's original treatment and honest storytelling. And Next time whenever you watch a war film, think deeply, and think about other side of it. Don't just get yourself entertained.

Prior to September 11th, 2001, Americans could scarcely imagine what it could be like to experience large-scale, life-threatening violence within one of its cities. The slaughtering of civilians in the World Trade Center attack brought the reality of terrorist savagery to eyes that typically preferred to remain closed to such unpleasantness. This film, released in 1997, indicts those closed eyes which placed more importance on the love lives of British royalty than on the desperation of the citizens (including many children) of a city in the throes of immense brutality. Dillane plays a reporter in Sarajevo, Bosnia, sent there to cover the strife between warring factions of Serbians and Muslims (the ultimate victims being the people on the street or the children left behind in the various skirmishes.) He is, by now, desensitized to the everyday killings and maiming brought on by the struggle, but eventually finds himself caring about the fate of one young orphan girl who he befriends during a story. He is joined by other reporters played by Harrelson, Fox, Nesbitt and Lloyd who pass their time in between events by chatting over cold coffee or developing tentative relationships between themselves. There isn't a great deal of time to kill, however, since the city is under a nearly constant state of siege with bullets flying and bombs going off at irregular intervals. The entire situation seems surreal despite the blending of actual video footage paired with scenes for this film. Even though the US was hit hard on September 11th, this is an ongoing, daily battle with danger seemingly around every corner. Visnjic plays a Sarajevo resident whom Dillane hires as a driver. Visnjic evolves from a sensitive, caring young man into a rather detached, desensitized soldier over the course of the story. His character is actually more compelling than Dillane's thought Dillane does an excellent job in his role of observer and potential participant. Appearing somewhat briefly is Tomei as a relief worker, arriving to collect some orphaned children who have relatives outside the country. She and the other more "name" actors in the film try not to draw too much attention to their celebrity and are partially successful. A cast of complete unknowns may have made the film a bit more authentic, yet also may have relegated it to a lesser amount of interest and box office income than it received. The story behind the warfare is complex and complicated (to say nothing of deep-rooted) and isn't particularly well-covered here. This is more about the role of journalists in the field and their struggles with personal interest in their stories. It tries to cover a few too many bases, but does present some striking images and some jarring (and downbeat) elements which make it worth seeing. Part of the script (involving orphan girl Nusevic) is based on a true story.

I saw the movie about 2-3 years ago and I was very impressed and touched. I couldn't help crying all the time. Because it was so realistic... As a Russian I faced myself the pain of the war in Chechnya, for example... I mean the feeling is close to me and I can quite understand it. All the pain which seems so indescribable is "summarized" in the movie. However, what I didn't like was a certain lack of objectiveness. I mean the political moment. In this movie the Serbs are presented as the bad guys, and the Muslims - as the victims. But the true is the opposite. Or at least, both sides were victims of this horrible conflict.

In Sarajevo, the British journalist Michael Henderson (Stephen Dillane) is correspondent of war, who decides to cover the orphans' situation due to the Bosnian War. Through successive matters, he tries to show and sensitize the public opinion about this ignored war. Meanwhile, he gets emotionally involved with Emira (Emira Nusevic), a young Bosnian girl. He decides to take the chance and brings her to the breast of his family in London. Some time later, the girl's mother is found alive and requests the care of her daughter. Michael returns to Sarajevo to convince her to let him adopt Emira. The first time I watched this impressing movie was in 1999 and indeed it was the first film about the Bosnian war that I have seen. The director Michael Winterbottom makes a magnificent work, alternating reality and fiction through images. Based on a true event, he uses real war footages intercalating with his film to show the atrocities of this war, having the focus on the children. Stephen Diallane, Woody Harrelson, Marisa Tomei, Emira Nusevic and the rest of the cast have brilliant performances. There is a very special and cynical scene that I like a lot, when the American journalist Flynn apologizes to a local in the name of the American people for the non-intervention of USA in this dirty war. This is maybe the best line of the great actor Woody Harrelson in this excellent movie. This week I have watched five films about this war and all of them are really excellent and highly recommended. If the reader likes this theme and wants to see different approaches, do not miss 'Harrison's Flowers', 'Vulkovar', 'Pretty Village, Pretty Flame' and 'Shot Through the Heart'. I intend to see again the magnificent 'Savior' and 'No Man's Land' along this week also about this horrible war. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): 'Bem Vindo a Sarajevo' ('Welcome to Sarajevo')