WELCOME TO SARAJEVO Reviewed by Jamie Peck
Based on the true-life account recorded by British journalist Michael Nicholson in the book "Natasha's Story," "Welcome" tells the story of a group of varied war reporters stationed in Sarajevo in 1992. Nicholson's film counterpart comes in the form of Michael Henderson (Stephen Dillane), a veteran television correspondent who, along side of his colleagues (including Woody Harrelson, Emily Lloyd and Shallow Grave's Kerry Fox), are angered and perplexed as to how Sarajevan troubles are taking backseat to the Royal Family's marital difficulties on the news and in the papers. Henderson then sets his sights on the impoverished, victimized children at a local orphanage in hopes that people will realize how monumental their situation is.
"Sarajevo"'s visual spectacle is so fierce and gritty that rarely does five minutes go by without the urge to look away from the screen becoming a tad unbearable. Of course, just because a movie is difficult to watch -- and this one is -- doesn't make it bad by any means (need I say more than "Schindler's List"?), but sights are really the movie's only powerful element. Characters and their relationships here are so blank and underdeveloped that they barely register; try to tell the female parts from one another -- I dare you. The film's eventual focus is on Henderson's effort to rescue a young, saucer-eyed urchin (Emira Nusevic), but their scenes are hurried and half-formed. It's hard, then, to invest much emotional baggage in the potentially harrowing moments that are devoted to them.
At least we can be happy that "Welcome to Sarajevo" doesn't degenerate into blatant manipulation. The screenplay, while frustrating in patches, does allow for noble performances from its cast -- especially Dillane and newcomer Nusevic -- and provide a handful of memorable (though not necessarily in a good way) segments. Technical credits are also fantastic; it's impossible to tell what shots are genuine and which ones aren't, giving the movie a very appropriate, documentary-like feel. It just seems as though the film is uneven to the point of disappointment. "Welcome to Sarajevo" is an extremely admirable effort on behalf of its filmmakers, and I'm afraid that's nearly all it is.
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