Welcome to Sarajevo (1997)

79% of critics liked it
(34 reviews)
73% of users liked it
(4,784 ratings)

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… More 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 next day, Henderson is among the journalist vultures at a grisly scene, and he has to tell a little girl that both her parents were killed. When his story is demoted by his television network in favor of a celebrity puff piece, Henderson is angry. At the behest of his producer, Jane Carson (Kerry Fox), he visits a local orphanage. Henderson becomes deeply involved with the plight of the children and starts documenting their individual stories even as his employers express increasing disinterest. Henderson campaigns to get the kids out of Yugoslavia, with the help of an American aid worker, Nina (Marisa Tomei). He promises a girl named Emira (Emira Nusevic) that he'll take her back to his home in England. To make good on his vow, he must risk both his career and his life. He adopts the child and she is happy in England. But he must return to war-torn Sarajevo when her birth mother, who had abandoned her, demands her daughter back. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 41 min.
Directed By: Michael Winterbottom
Written By: Frank Cottrell Boyce
Genres: Drama, Television

In Theaters: Nov 26, 1997 Wide
On DVD: Feb 3, 2004

Critic Reviews

Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle
A compelling but jumbled film that examines the line between journalistic detachment and passion.
James Berardinelli, ReelViews
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.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Too often we sense that the actors are drifting and the story is at sea.
Charles Taylor, Salon.com
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.
Janet Maslin, New York Times
However closely they mirror the real experience of Mr. Nicholson and others, some of the shocks here are too sadly predictable.
Mike Clark, USA Today
Loosely structured, it keeps its focus despite lots of dramatic wiggle room.
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
A documentary would have more powerfully captured the horror of the Bosnian conflict than this synthetic, if well-acted and -intentioned, drama.
, Time Out
A crisp, rigorously unsentimental director, Winterbottom was a good choice for this project.
Luke Y. Thompson, New Times
Good set-up; less pay-off than I'd hoped.
Jeffrey Westhoff, Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)
Winterbottom takes a recent history the rest of the world already was beginning to forget and throws it into a sharp, human focus.
Lael Loewenstein, Boxoffice Magazine
It's an extraordinarily affecting, personal, and at times uplifting tale.
Tom Meek, Boston Phoenix
A blistering docudrama, as refreshing as it is horrifying.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Lifts up compassion as the quivering of the heart in the presence of pain and suffering.

Read all 13 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Bruce B

Don't let the year made scare you. From the 1997 Toronto International Film Festival. One Hell of a movie. Shows actual footage of the massacre that went on in Sarajevo, right under the nose of world leaders that only looked the other way and allowed it. This movie is about a… More
Don't let the year made scare you. From the 1997 Toronto International Film Festival. One Hell of a movie. Shows actual footage of the massacre that went on in Sarajevo, right under the nose of world leaders that only looked the other way and allowed it. This movie is about a British Reporter and his getting a little girl out of the country. This is worth no less then 5 Stars and everyone should see it,
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]"Welcome to Sarajevo" is a frustrating, uneven and occasionally harrowing movie about a group of reporters covering the siege of Sarajevo in 1992(This was made in 1997 when there was a much more favorable opinion of journalists in general.), using… More
[font=Century Gothic]"Welcome to Sarajevo" is a frustrating, uneven and occasionally harrowing movie about a group of reporters covering the siege of Sarajevo in 1992(This was made in 1997 when there was a much more favorable opinion of journalists in general.), using archival footage to further complete the setting.(Al D'Amato being the voice of reason is definitely a sign of the apocalypse.) The movie is at its best when it concerns itself with the chaotic lives of the journalists, especially a British television trio, Henderson(Stephen Dillane), Gregg(James Nesbitt) and Jane(Kerry Fox), who work together to cover the war, but most importantly stay alive.(Just so their livers can give out at a future date...) They are guided around the city by their native driver, Risto(Goran Visnjic).(The movie does make an effort to show life in the city from the natives' perspective.) After an American, Flynn(Woody Harrelson), disregards his personal safety to pull a body out of the street, Henderson snaps, becoming obsessed with an orphanage on the front line. And this is where the movie starts to go off the rails.(At this point in his career, director Michael Winterbottom was presumably not experienced enough to avoid any mawkish sentimentality.) Not only are children no more important as victims than adults(Do I really have to quote Bill Hicks again?), but Henderson is so very wrong in his actions, acting selfishly, and accomplishing little in the long run.[/font]
Cinema F

In a way that recalls Oliver Stone's work and Coppola's style in Gardens of Stone, director Michael Winterbottom interpolates into his recreation of a warzone excerpts from an actual news coverage. And in doing so, this makes the drama more immediate and powerful.… More
In a way that recalls Oliver Stone's work and Coppola's style in Gardens of Stone, director Michael Winterbottom interpolates into his recreation of a warzone excerpts from an actual news coverage. And in doing so, this makes the drama more immediate and powerful. Winterbottom's stylistic concept in terms of structure was to give the film a sense of being divided into chapters that were terse, tense and affecting. The intercutting of the news footage with the film material creates a jolting effect as the story flips back and forth between drama and the wider context. The story follows a group of journalists who spend their days braving the front lines, searching for footage that will guarantee them a prime slot on their local newscast. Their adage: To get the story they're prepared to risk everything. Granted, the flick testifies to the toll that war takes on families and communities. Yet amidst all of the horrow it shows, also suggests the immense goodness that war can compel, from Michael's decision to take one of the children home to the UK and away from the war, to the sense of loyalty that one of the young Sarajevan men shows Michael. And yes, the people of Sarajevo resisted the siege by trying to carry on as normal, shopping and socialising with style and grace in the teeth of this montrous inhumanity. Using archival news footage of politicians, the film makes straightforward, pointed comments about the absence of support for the victims of the war.