''No Man's Land'' ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Ničija zemlja, Ничија земља) is a 2001

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

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 Tanović Danis Tanović (born 20 February 1969) is a Bosnian film director and screenwriter. He is best known for having directed and written the script for the 2001 Bosnian movie ''No Man's Land'' which won him many awards, including an Academy Award f ...

. It is a co-production among companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Italy, France, Belgium and the United Kingdom. The film was first premiered on 19 September 2001 in France. The film won the

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

for

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

in 2002.

Plot

Two wounded soldiers, a Bosniak (Čiki, portrayed by

Branko Đurić Branko Đurić ( sh-Cyrl, Бранко Ђурић; born 28 May 1962), also known by his nickname Đuro (Cyrillic: Ђуро), is a Bosnian actor, comedian, film director and musician, who lives and works in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Born and raised i ...

) and a

Bosnian Serb The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sr-Cyrl, Срби у Босни и Херцеговини, Srbi u Bosni i Hercegovini) are one of the three constitutive nations (state-forming nations) of the country, predominantly residing in the politi ...

(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 Šovagović Filip Šovagović (born 13 September 1966) is a Croatian actor, film director, comedian, playwright and journalist. At first known simply as the son of renowned actor Fabijan Šovagović, he has established himself as one of the most prolific Cr ...

) who wakes from unconsciousness. A

land mine A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...

had been buried beneath him by the Bosnian Serbs; should he make any move, it would be fatal. A French sergeant (Marchand, portrayed by Georges Siatidis), of the

United Nations Protection Force The United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR; also known by its French acronym FORPRONU: ''Force de Protection des Nations Unies'') was the first United Nations peacekeeping force in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav War ...

(UNPROFOR), gets involved in effort to help the three trapped soldiers, despite initial orders to the contrary by high command. UNPROFOR's mission in Bosnia was to guard the humanitarian aid convoys, to remain neutral and act as a mere bystander. Luckily, an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

reporter arrives on scene, bringing media pressure to bear that moves the United Nations high command to swing into action to try to save the soldiers. A row between the stressed out and fatigued Čiki and Nino gradually escalated even after being rescued. Eventually, Čiki shoots Nino and is in turn shot by a Peacekeeper. Meanwhile, it is found that the mine cannot be defused. The UNPROFOR high command tries to save face: they lie, saying that Cera has been saved and they leave the area, along with the reporters and everyone else. In reality, Cera is left alone and desolate in the trenches, still immobilized by the mine. Meanwhile, the UNPROFOR commander has arranged false information to be passed to both Bosnian and Serb troops, to make them believe their enemies will be trying to reoccupy the trench at night (which each side would try to counter with an

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

barrage that presumably will kill Cera and obliterate the evidence).

Cast

- Čiki * Rene Bitorajac - Nino *

- Cera *Georges Siatidis - Sergeant Marchand *Serge-Henri Valcke - Captain Dubois *Sacha Kremer - Michel *Alain Eloy - Pierre *

Mustafa Nadarević Mustafa Nadarević (2 May 1943 – 22 November 2020) was a Bosnian and Croatian actor. Widely considered one of the greatest actors from the former Yugoslavia, he starred in over 70 films, including '' The Smell of Quinces'' (1982), ''When Father ...

- Older Serbian soldier *

Bogdan Diklić Bogdan Diklić ( sr-Cyrl, Богдан Диклић; born 1 August 1953) is a Serbian actor. He has been active since the late 1970s and starred in over one hundred Yugoslav films and television series. Diklić made ten films with director Gora ...

- Serbian officer *

Boro Stjepanović Borislav "Boro" Stjepanović (born 8 May 1946 in Vareš, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Bosnian film, theater and television actor. He has played in over 50 films since the 1960s, most notably in '' Sjećaš li se Doli Bel'', ' ...

- Bosnian soldier *

Simon Callow Simon Phillip Hugh Callow (born 15 June 1949) is an English film, television and voice actor, director, narrator and writer. He was twice nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his roles in ''A Room with a View'' (19 ...

- Colonel Soft *

Katrin Cartlidge Katrin Juliet Cartlidge (15 May 1961 – 7 September 2002) was an English actress. She first appeared on screen as Lucy Collins in the Channel 4 soap opera '' Brookside'' (1982–1983), before going on to win the 1997 Evening Standard Fil ...

- Jane Livingstone, journalist *

Tanja Ribič Tanja Ribič (born 28 June 1968) is a Slovenian actress and singer. Biography Ribič graduated from the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana. She has been a member of Ljubljana City Theatre since 1992. She represented ...

- Martha *Branko Završan - Deminer * - officer

Reception

Box Office

The film had an estimated budget of €2,000,000. The film was a commercially success. It earned $1,012,153 in US & Canadian box office. In total, the film earned $4,858,869 worldwide.

Critical Response

The film had positive reviews among critics and audiences. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds a 93% approval rating based on 98 reviews, with an average rating of 7.80/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Bleak and darkly humorous, No Man's Land vividly illustrates the absurdity of war."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, has assigned the film a score of 84 out of 100 based on 29 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Prominent film critic Roger Ebert praised the film and cited it as a curiously beautiful film and rated 3.5 out of 5.

Accolades

Some of the awards that the film won are: *

, 2002

74th Academy Awards The 74th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 24, 2002, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly ...

, 2002

59th Golden Globe Awards The 59th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television for 2001, were held on January 20, 2002. The nominations were announced on December 20, 2001. Winners and nominees Film The following films received multiple ...

*Best Screenplay Award,

European Film Academy The European Film Academy is an initiative of a group of European filmmakers who came together in Berlin on the occasion of the first presentation of the European Film Awards in November 1988. The Academy—under the name of European Cinema Soc ...

* Best Screenplay,

2001 Cannes Film Festival The 54th Cannes Film Festival started on 14 May and ran until 20 May 2001. Norwegian actress and director Liv Ullmann was the Jury President. The Palme d'Or went to the Italian film ''The Son's Room'' by Nanni Moretti. The festival opened with '' ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:No Man's Land 2001 films 2001 comedy-drama films 2000s war drama films Bosnia and Herzegovina war drama films Italian war drama films Belgian war drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s French-language films Best Foreign Language Film Golden Globe winners Bosnian-language films 2000s German-language films Films directed by Danis Tanović Anti-war films Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners Best First Feature Film César Award winners Bosnian War films Political satire films 2001 black comedy films Films about the United Nations French war drama films United Artists films Heart of Sarajevo Award for Best Film winners British war drama films 2000s political drama films 2001 comedy films 2000s British films 2000s French films Slovenian drama films