Billed as a dark comedy, No Man's Land is more of a drama, and a blunt statement about the futility of war, the dichotomy of human nature and the influence of the media during war.
The story is set in a trench during the Bosnian-Serbo conflict and is a very real and disturbing look into war and its effect on people. Tchiki (Branko Djuric) is a Bosnian soldier who finds himself running for cover after being ambushed by the enemy. He stumbles into the trench that now lays in No Man's Land, and at first is just thankful to be alive, until he realises that any attempt to leave will mean he will become a target all over again.
Whilst pondering this dilemma, two Serbian soldiers are sent into No Man's Land to see if there are any of the enemy still alive. Surprising Tchiki, the older Serbian is shot dead in the scramble to shoot first, but the younger soldier, Nino (Rene Bitorajac), is merely wounded, and so begins the one-up-manship that dominates the rest of the film. Naturally, each has a great mistrust of the other, a genuine hatred in fact, but each is aware that, for now, he needs the other. As soon as one leaves, the enemy soldiers will take potshots at the man left.
Neither the Bosnians nor the Serbs are sure at first which side the soldiers belong to and are therefore reluctant to send in more men. The two in the trench have other problems complicating their situation. Tchiki's mate is also in the trench, and while originally thought to be dead, it seems he is very much alive and laying on a 'bouncing' land mine. This is a particularly nasty weapon that bounces three feet in the air after the weight that triggered it is lifted, and sprays deadly ball bearings in all directions for 50 yards. The men are fine, so long as Tsera (Filip Sovagovic) lays on the bouncing bomb.
The UN becomes involved, but the predominantly French soldiers find that 'peacekeeper' is more of a title than an actual job, and their attempts to get the men out are thwarted by their own superiors. With the media moving in for the kill, all parties try to save face, and with a big question mark hanging over proceedings, only one thing is certain; in war there are bound to be more losers than winners.
No Man's Land won the Special Jury Prize at Cannes 2001, Best Foreign Film at the 2002 Oscars and Best Foreign Language Film at the 2002 Golden Globe Awards. This should be enough to recommend the film, but throw in the great acting, the understated tension that runs through the film plus the beautifully subtle and blatant anti-war messages, and this is a fine film indeed. It puts both the United Nations and the media squarely under the microscope, and both are found to be lacking.
The film moves along at a fine pace, and even though one or two moments seem incongruous and unnecessary, it is still an enjoyable film. There are some genuinely amusing moments, and a somewhat uncomfortable and disturbing end. It is not one of those open-ended films; it just leaves you feeling helpless and angry at the whole damned stupidity of war. You will find yourself laughing at the tragedy unfolding, and feeling guilty about it at the same time. Highly recommended.
Another top-notch transfer, and this time, for a film deserving of such treatment. All-region discs tend not to see this type of transfer usually and so this comes as a welcomed surprise. The feature is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. There is almost nothing to fault visually, and every aspect has earned top marks. Colours are splendidly natural, and skin tones likewise are extremely good. There are no problems with bleeding or chroma noise, and colours are bold when they need to be, and dusted down in the scenes such as those filmed in the trench. Black levels are great with no evidence of low-level noise.
The image is very sharp and there is wonderful detail to be seen in every frame. Shadow detail is excellent, even though most of the film takes place outdoors, and there are very few scenes where shadow might have been a problem. There are no film artefacts at all, and I don't recall seeing a cleaner transfer. There are no film to video artefacts to speak of either.
There is a layer change at 77:39, but it's placed between scenes and therefore is not disruptive.
There is just the one audio option, and that is Croatian-Serbo Dolby Digital 5.1 with some French and English included. You will be glad of that, for the only gripe is that the whole film is not synchronised. Thankfully, most of the feature will have you reading the subtitles, and unless you can lip-read Croatian-Serbo and/or French, then it should not be a big distraction. In fact, it wasn't until the first English dialogue, more than half way in, that the problem was noticed. The included Theatrical Trailer suffers no such problem. Ain't it always the way?
Apart from that, the transfer is quite glorious. The music at the opening of the film shows off the full sound range immediately, with a hauntingly clear vocal over a deep and resonating drum beat. There are a number of gunshot scenes and other explosions, and the full glory of 5.1 is well demonstrated as sounds ring out all around the room. The subwoofer makes itself known regularly.
The rear speakers are also used for the infrequent music and other ambient sounds such as insects and the wind. All dialogue is clear and mostly from the front, though as said, it is mostly non-English. There is also noticeable separation and panning of sound, which simply adds to the drama on screen.
