Welcome to Sarajevo (1997)

Journalist Flynn from the U.S., Michael Henderson from the U.K., and their teams meet at the beginning of the Bosnian war in Sarajevo. During their reports, they find an orphanage run by ... See full summary »

Director:

Michael Winterbottom

Writers:

Michael Nicholson (book), Frank Cottrell Boyce

Stars:

Stephen Dillane, Woody Harrelson, Marisa Tomei

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Stephen Dillane	...	Michael Henderson
Woody Harrelson	...	Flynn
Marisa Tomei	...	Nina
Emira Nusevic	...	Emira
Kerry Fox	...	Jane Carson
Goran Visnjic	...	Risto Bavic
James Nesbitt	...	Gregg
Emily Lloyd	...	Annie McGee
Igor Dzambazov	...	Jacket
Gordana Gadzic	...	Mrs. Savic
Juliet Aubrey	...	Helen Henderson
Drazen Sivak	...	Zeljko
Vesna Orel	...	Munira
Davor Janjic	...	Dragan
Vladimir Jokanovic	...	Emira's Uncle

Storyline

Journalist Flynn from the U.S., Michael Henderson from the U.K., and their teams meet at the beginning of the Bosnian war in Sarajevo. During their reports, they find an orphanage run by the devoted Mrs. Savic near the frontline. Henderson gets so involved in the kids' problems, that he decides to take one of the children, Emira, illegally back to England. He is assisted by American aid worker Nina.

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Plot Keywords:

journalist | sarajevo | orphanage | england | bosnian war | 

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Taglines:

For this celebrated, outrageous, adrenaline-loving bunch of reporters, home is the latest war zone. Now, one of them is about to do the unthinkable--get emotionally involved.

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for brutal images/war atrocities and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Stephen Dillane did meet Michael Nicholson, the ITN correspondent his character in the film, Michael Henderson, is loosely based upon. But he chose to keep him at arm's length despite thinking what Nicholson did was extraordinary, because he wanted the story to be more focused on the wider picture. He thought it would have been an insult to the people so recently suffered unimaginable pain if they make the story focus too much on the personal ordeal of a brave English reporter rescuing a young girl from burning orphanage.

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Goofs

When the bus is stopped by the Chetniks, the gun of the leader alternates between being a type of Kalashnikov and a French FAMAS.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Title Card: In 1991, the country of Yugoslavia began to fracture into separate nations. On the pretext of maintaining Yugoslavia's integrity, the Serbian dominated Yugoslav army attacked first Slovenia, then Croatia.
Title Card: In April 1992, in the hope of securing international protection, Bosnia declared its independence. This was rejected by many Bosnian Serbs. Aided by the remnants of the Yugoslav army, they set out to claim as much territory as they could.
Title Card: They systematically cleansed towns and ...
[...]

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Alien Resurrection/Welcome to Sarajevo/Flubber/Public Housing/Bent (1997)

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Soundtracks

I Wanna Be Adored
Written by John Squire and Ian Brown
Performed by The Stone Roses (as Stone Roses)

User Reviews

nice, but too confused and missing the point

At the beginning I should mention that I live in Sarajevo, and I was a civilian in a besieged city, so that explains my perspective from which I was watching this movie, and experience I carry from it.

Through the whole movie, one thing kept torturing me: What is this movie about??? Is it about Michael Henderson and his moral issues, is it about all journalists and their moral issues, is it about Flynn and his understanding of war, is it about worlds' understanding of that war, is it about Sarajevo, about Emira, about orphans? This movie needs focusing on one goal, because this way I'm left with 100 stories that don't actually fit together and I don't know what I was watching the past 1,5 hours. Pictures of war make their message very clear, but then its messed up with the story that tries to cover too many things at the same time. So is it fiction? Well, no. Is it a documentary? Well, no, not that either...

Most places shown in the move are totally wrong. Characters keep jumping from one end of the city to another in matters of seconds, some events that really happened are shown in wrong places, many times characters enter streets that in real life were sniper alleys etc. (meaning no way one could get near and stay alive), military checkpoints are mostly in the wrong places and so on, but one can forgive details like that.

Welcome to Sarajevo is trying to show you how it was, living in Sarajevo under siege, but its constantly missing the point and showing the wrong things. If you want to know how it looked like, watch a documentary.

To date the only realistic movie about Bosnian war is No Man's Land, and that would be my highest recommendation. Other than that, Lepa sela lepo gore is worth watching.

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English Serbian Bosnian

Release Date:

26 November 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Welcome to Sarajevo

Filming Locations:

Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$66,920, 30 November 1997

Gross USA:

$334,319

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$334,319

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax, Channel Four Films, Dragon Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1