SummaryLiving on the edge amid the constant threat of attack, an offbeat band of TV journalists, lead by hotshot Jimmy Flynn (Harrelson), report from a devastated war-torn country. The action intensifies when one of the journalists crosses the line and risks his life in a bold attempt to smuggle an orphaned girl to safety. (BV Entertainment)
Directed By:Michael Winterbottom
Written By:Michael Nicholson, Frank Cottrell Boyce
Welcome to Sarajevo
Metascore
Generally Favorable
72
User score
Generally Favorable
7.6
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
75% Positive
18 Reviews
18 Reviews
25% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
This could have turned out to be an exercise in easy sentiment, easy to shrug off. But Frank Cottrell Boyce's script is carefully understated, and director Michael Winterbottom has achieved a remarkably seamless blend of fictional and factual footage.
90
What is so impressive about Welcome to Sarajevo is its cool restraint: Like the best of journalism, it never stoops to sensationalize or sermonize, but merely observes. It's about the facts rather than something called The Truth. [9Jan1998 Pg. D.01]
80
Winterbottom's film is openly a polemic. 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.
75
The movie is well made by director Michael Winterbottom ("Jude"), with a minimum of overdramatics.
70
Perhaps the worst thing you can say about Welcome To Sarajevo is that it's not a great film, but it's very good, and it should be seen.
60
The film's persistent skimming from one vantage point to another, with no dominant dramatic line until midway through, will unsettle audiences expecting a more regular construction and something on which to hook their emotions over the long term.
50
It keeps the gag quotient lower than Reds but has a similar effect: more urgent in its desire to make us care about the events it depicts, it nonetheless reduces the war in Bosnia to mere scenery for the hackneyed journey of a world-weary journalist from cynicism to caring activism.
User score
Generally Favorable
86% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
14% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Nov 19, 2015
9
You see, this is the kind of movie that makes documentaries look even better. I mean the story was definitely OK, the casting of Woody Harrelson and Goran Visnjic was great. It's like these roles were written especially for them. Woody is a great actor and I believe that this is one of the roles that catapulted Visnjic into the States...
Production Company:
- Miramax
- Channel Four Films
- Dragon Pictures
Release Date:Nov 26, 1997
Duration:1 h 43 m
Rating:R
Tagline: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.
Awards
National Board of Review, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Cannes Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Chicago International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
