Movies - Welcome To Sarajevo

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	Movies - Welcome To Sarajevo

Welcome to Sarajevo is a British war movie from 1997. It is directed by Michael Winterbottom. The screenplay is by Frank Cottrell Boyce and is based on the book Natasha's Story by Michael Nicholson.

Synopsis

In 1992, ITN reporter Michael Henderson (Stephen Dillane) comes to Sarajevo, the besieged capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina or, in the words of the correspondents, "the 14th worst place on earth". He teams up with American star journalist Jimmy Flynn (Woody Harrelson) on the chase for the most exciting stories and pictures. Their work permits them blunt and unobstructed views of the suffering of the people of Sarajevo. The situation changes when Henderson makes a report from an orphanage in which two hundred children live in a desperate conditions. With the help of American aid worker Nina (Marisa Tomei), Henderson tries to get the children into shelter. At first, the getaway is threatened with failure when the bus with the children is stopped by Serbian pillagers and most of the children were taken away. However, in the end, Henderson manages to smuggle the Bosniak girl Emira (Emira Nušević) out of the country and adopts her.

Style

Michael Winterbottom portrays the events with brutal realism. In the opening sequence there is a massacre on a wedding party. Other shocking sequences include the stopping of a bus and the kidnapping of orphaned children by the Chetniks, and the brutal killing of the interpreter and driver Risto Bavić (Goran Višnjić) by a sniper.

Welcome to Sarajevo was the first feature film about the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Shot just a few months after the war, on locations in Sarajevo and Croatia, the film uses real ruins and war debris to give the film a feeling of authenticity.

Awards

The film had its world premiere on May 9, 1997 at the 1997 International Cannes Film Festival. It was nominated for the Golden Palm and for the Golden Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival.

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