No Man's Land (2001)

93% of critics liked it
(98 reviews)
92% of users liked it
(11,261 ratings)

The grim futility of the war between Bosnia and Serbia is reduced to its essence as two enemy soldiers are forced to share a wary trust for one another in this drama. A group of Bosnian soldiers are advancing upon Serbian territory during a misty night when the fog lifts at daybreak, making them… More The grim futility of the war between Bosnia and Serbia is reduced to its essence as two enemy soldiers are forced to share a wary trust for one another in this drama. A group of Bosnian soldiers are advancing upon Serbian territory during a misty night when the fog lifts at daybreak, making them plainly visible to their enemy. Serb forces open fire upon them, and soon only Chiki (Brancko Djuric) is still alive, after diving into a trench in no man's land. Two Serbian soldiers scouting the area set up a land mine using the body of a Bosnian soldier as "bait;" if moved, the mine will jump into the air and explode. Chiki watches as the soldiers set the trap, and furious at the disrespect to his fallen comrades, he kills one of the Serbs, and takes the other, Nino (Rene Bitorajac), hostage. With both soldiers alone and equally armed, they find themselves at a stalemate, and begin trying to attract help from either side. Eventually, the two men are found by a squadron of French soldiers attached to a U.N. peacekeeping unit; now held by supposedly neutral forces, Chiki and Nino are with the French troops when it's discovered that the dead Bosnian soldier isn't dead after all, though no one is sure how to disarm the mine without killing him in the process. No Man's Land was the debut feature from Bosnian writer and director Danis Tanovic. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 38 min.
Directed By: Danis Tanovic
Written By: Danis Tanovic
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Dec 21, 2001 Wide
On DVD: Apr 9, 2002
Studio: United Artists Pictures

Critic Reviews

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
... a gripping piece of combat theater.
Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle
It's hard to believe this is writer-director Danis Tanovic's first feature fiction film.
Jane Sumner, Dallas Morning News
The acting's so strong and the dialogue so realistic, that it feels authentic.
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
A strange and disturbing film, but it is not without a stirringly humanist compassion even at its most outlandish and outrageous.
Desson Thomson, Washington Post
A well-mounted... seriocomedy with passing punchlines. And for about half the movie, it's compelling stuff.
Stephen Hunter, Washington Post
It's not a pretty picture, but it is a funny one, if you agree with Tanovic that all human behavior tends toward folly, cowardice, self-deception, corruption and hopelessness.
John A. Nesbit, Old School Reviews
absurd situation creates lasting images that don't diminish with time
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
A brilliant and brilliantly disturbing film.
Judith Egerton, Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)
Tanovic adroitly indicts the entrenched hostilities between people and nations.
Andrea Chase, Killer Movie Reviews
savage whimsy
Tom Grealis, RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)
An intelligent and expertly-judged microcosm of the inanity of war.

Read all 11 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Cynthia S

A terrific movie with many, many layers. The UN is ripped for its do-nothing foolishness, but equally well presented is the difficulty of peacemaking itself. Ultimately it is not the failure of the UN, but the failure of humans to let go of the past in favor of peace. Biting drama,… More
A terrific movie with many, many layers. The UN is ripped for its do-nothing foolishness, but equally well presented is the difficulty of peacemaking itself. Ultimately it is not the failure of the UN, but the failure of humans to let go of the past in favor of peace. Biting drama, well conceived and executed. All this, and humor, too.
Conner R

I'm pretty sure my favorite part was the random appearance of the villain from Ace Ventura 2. This is by no means a movie that I got into, but I can't deny that it's an interesting concept. It's just that some of the symbolism is way too obvious and it takes away… More
I'm pretty sure my favorite part was the random appearance of the villain from Ace Ventura 2. This is by no means a movie that I got into, but I can't deny that it's an interesting concept. It's just that some of the symbolism is way too obvious and it takes away from the overall story and message. One thing I really liked was the idea of broadening the scope ten fold about half way in. There's all this intimacy and then suddenly it's like an entire UN fleet and a news team. The Reservoir Dogs atmosphere to the initial character interaction is what I would consider weak, mainly because all I was thinking about was Reservoir Dogs.
Lorenzo v

"Neutrality does not exist in the face of murder. Doing nothing to stop it is, in fact, choosing. It is not being neutral." Bosnia and Herzegovina during 1993 at the time of the heaviest fighting between the two warring sides. Two soldiers from opposing… More
"Neutrality does not exist in the face of murder. Doing nothing to stop it is, in fact, choosing. It is not being neutral." Bosnia and Herzegovina during 1993 at the time of the heaviest fighting between the two warring sides. Two soldiers from opposing sides in the conflict, Nino and Ciki, become trapped in no man's land, whilst a third soldier is becomes a living booby trap. <center>REVIEW</center> A clever black comedy, Danis Tanovic's film about enemies trapped in a trench during the conflict in Bosnia has a lot on its mind, primarily its intention to showcase the global political impotence towards the conflict and the insidious influence of a corrupt media--it covers a lot of bases. Tanovic doesn't have a lot of use for his characters other than as caricatures and mouthpieces (though there are some nice performances by Branko Djuric and Rene Bitorajac as two of the adversaries and Georges Siatidis as a concerned French U.N. observer) but he does infuse his script with plenty of humanity and the point of the project is to express his outrage at needless, sadistic carnage. Though the film is always predictable in its irony (especially the hardly-surprising ending) it never ceases to carry a wallop and Tanovic's blunt, angry agenda has a powerful directness that comes as a result of a persevering personal vision. Well-made.
Ross C

The best movie I've ever seen about the absurdities of war. The story of everyday men finding themselves caught up in a war against their former countrymen is cleverly illustrated as Bosnian reservists get caught between the lines in No Man's Land. A series of tragically… More
The best movie I've ever seen about the absurdities of war. The story of everyday men finding themselves caught up in a war against their former countrymen is cleverly illustrated as Bosnian reservists get caught between the lines in No Man's Land. A series of tragically comic scenes between the likeable characters ensues as the UN inevitably fails to intervene.
Mike S

As I've never seen a war movie before about the present day conflict between Bosnia and Serbia, I didn't really know what to expect, but after reading so many good reviews about it, it did seem pretty interesting at first. The story is mainly based around two soldiers (one… More
As I've never seen a war movie before about the present day conflict between Bosnia and Serbia, I didn't really know what to expect, but after reading so many good reviews about it, it did seem pretty interesting at first. The story is mainly based around two soldiers (one from each side of the fence) who are forced into a situation where they get a rare opportunity to converse face to face and vent their strong contempt before each other, at times reaching a level of acceptance, but ultimately, like the war, unable to let go of the deeply-rooted hate. This comes to lead to a quite depressive ending, which was the very opposite of what I had hoped for. Despite being very slow-paced, I liked the way the story focused more on the interaction between its characters, rather than to just throw in a lot of action and explosions for the sake of entertainment (although it could have used some more to have kept things going). It is a sad fact though that the movie didn't really provide much hope or inspiration, apart from one or two moments where the two main characters come close to bonding with each other as human beings. As I don't follow the news, I don't know exactly how this war looks like today, but one can only hope that the people and governments of these two opposing countries will come to realise how pointless it to waste so much energy, blood and human lives when it costs so much less to take measurements towards peace. In summary: Has some good moments and is interesting in parts, but due to the sucky and lackluster ending (which made the rest of the movie feel almost entirely pointless) I wouldn't recommend anyone to see it, unless you happen to be very familiar with this war or have personal experience from it. But for me, who has no emotional attachment whatsoever, it ended up being quite boring. It doesn't help either that most of the plot takes place in and around a single trench. All in all a real disappointment :(
Curt C

The situation is, of course, pretty absurd, and the film plays that absurdity up to make the message about war that it wants to. At some point in the film, you resolve yourself into thinking that things will probably end well; at another point, you resolve that there's no way… More
The situation is, of course, pretty absurd, and the film plays that absurdity up to make the message about war that it wants to. At some point in the film, you resolve yourself into thinking that things will probably end well; at another point, you resolve that there's no way things can end well. I won't tell you which comes first. For a piece of fiction, it seemed pretty real. Black comedy at its finest.
Andre T

Tragic war drama that is set in the midst of the Bosnian war. The film is a parable and marked the debut of Bosnian writer and director Danis Tanovi?. Two wounded soldiers, a Bosniak (?iki, portrayed by Branko ?uri?) and a Bosnian Serb (Nino, portrayed by Rene Bitorajac) are caught… More
Tragic war drama that is set in the midst of the Bosnian war. The film is a parable and marked the debut of Bosnian writer and director Danis Tanovi?. Two wounded soldiers, a Bosniak (?iki, portrayed by Branko ?uri?) and a Bosnian Serb (Nino, portrayed by Rene Bitorajac) are caught between their lines in the no man's land, in a struggle for survival. The two soldiers confront each other in a trench, where they wait for dark. They trade insults and even find some common ground. Confounding the situation is another wounded Bosniak soldier (Cera, portrayed by Filip ovagovi?) who wakes from unconsciousness. A land mine had been buried beneath him by the Bosnian Serbs; should he make any move, it would be fatal.Interesting plot. good screemplay, but a little slow, and so, a little boring, despite all the prizes and positive reviews it achieve.Regular.
Ivan D

A good film showing two soldiers trying to grip what was left of the basics of their humanities, but still powerless, as the twisted realms of war distorted their principles to what was really happening. "No Man's Land" was focused more on being a dark human comedy than… More
A good film showing two soldiers trying to grip what was left of the basics of their humanities, but still powerless, as the twisted realms of war distorted their principles to what was really happening. "No Man's Land" was focused more on being a dark human comedy than a war film, and it indeed succeeded on showing the spiked barriers that separates the two warring sides, even amidst life or death situations. The start of the film was very promising on being a great one, but the short duration time, and the unsatisfying resolution prevented it from being so, though, I must say, the final image of the man lying on a mine, was good enough to summarize the craziness of not just the Serbia-Bosnia civil war, but all wars in general that has plagued our history.
Daisy M

<a href="http://tinypic.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i32.tinypic.com/27yrew0.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a> A story about two soldiers one Serbian and one Bosnian.caught up in a… More
<a href="http://tinypic.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i32.tinypic.com/27yrew0.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a> A story about two soldiers one Serbian and one Bosnian.caught up in a trench between enemy lines during the Bosnian war the so called No Man's land. It was a great movie and it deserve the Oscar it won as best foreign language film.The story was unpredictable and brought great messages about the war, the motives and the consequences of it. There was some sense of humor in all the tragedy of movie.The performances were great and the direction was perfect and managed to show all the emotions to the viewer. Great movie.
FanGirl B

I didn't think I would like this movie but it turned out to be really good.
Wu C

Good mix of comedy and tragedy.