WELCOME TO SARAJEVO

UK, 1997, 103 minutes. Colour.
Stephen Dillane, Woody Harrelson, Marisa Tormei, Kerry Fox, Goran Visnjic, James Nesbitt, Emily Lloyd, Juliet Aubrey.
Directed by Michael Winterbottom.

Welcome to Sarajevo is an excellent film but, as might be expected from the brutal war, it is tough going. Michael Winterbottom has combined video footage with reconstructions of the siege of Sarajevo so that the film has an authentic documentary feel.

The central characters are telejournalists, sympathetic but jaded, eager for a scoop but finding themselves caught up in the violence, the hunger, the black market and the continual shots of the snipers. Some of the sudden killings as well as the execution of hostages are filmed vividly and shock us. There is also a narrative of an English journalist helping some orphans get from Sarajevo to Split and his adopting one little girl abandoned by her mother.

We need to have films like this to help us understand the Balkans, the wars and the impotence of European and world powers to assist them. Opening up a war.


1. A topical film of the later 1990s? The experience of the war in the Balkans? The humanitarian issues? The film seen in the retrospect of the 21st century?

2. Filming in Sarajevo, the detail of the city, life in the city before the war, the lifestyle, ordinary, peaceful? The contrast with the city under siege? The attacks, the snipers, the bombings? The troops? The background of Yugoslavia, its divisions? Unity and disunity, ethnic differences, religious differences?

3. The style of the film and film-making, the telejournalists, the filming of the news, the audience on the spot with the journalists, the action and the editing, seeing the editing being done, the decisions about the editing? The musical score?

4. Audience knowledge of the peoples, Yugoslavia and the experience of the wars? The leadership – and the war criminal trials afterwards? Taking sides in the war?

5. The world of journalists, their background, being on the spot, the journalistic instinct, camerawork, producers, editors? The local help? The internationality? The paparazzi-type approach to all the incidents? Reporting, the scoops, the stunts, especially like Flynn and his taking the corpse into the church? Bravado? The rivalries, comments and comparisons, friendships, talking, drinking and joking? Family backgrounds?

6. The quality of the scenes of reportage, the wedding and the sniper, the dead mother-in-law, the children in the streets, the programs of campaigns for the children and their rehabilitation?

7. Michael Henderson, the background of his home, family, an earnest journalist, with Gregg as his cameraman, on the job, working with Jane Carson as editor? Annie and her presence, her stories? The details? The interactions with Flynn? Flynn’s stunt, his reactions? The children, the orphans? His calling his wife? The child, his concern, involvement? Risto as the driver, guide, getting information? His decision to adopt? His wife’s acceptance? The meeting with Nina, the talk, the preparation of the trip, the roadblocks and documents, the soldiers taking some of the children? Getting home, his wife and his children accepting the little girl, her life with them, the home video sequences?

8. The little girl, her mother letting her go, the contact with Michael, the go-between, Michael meeting the mother, the issue of money, the mother relinquishing her child, saying she was a bad mother, yet wanting to look at the video?

9. Nina and her role, the discussions, her work for the children, rescuing the children, the bus trip?

10. Flynn, American, American style, his reports, bravado, his friendship, his link with Jane Carson?

11. Gregg, his camerawork?

12. Jane, as a producer, as an editor, her making the decisions? Her admiration for Flynn and his stunts? Her friendship with Michael? Michael’s return to Sarajevo, entering into the life of the journalists? Annie and her contribution? Jane as producer, her opinions, the discussions, her decisions?

13. Risto, his friends, their being artistic, their life before the attack, life changed, their pessimism? Risto and his getting the eggs, getting the food to his friends? The background of the black market? Risto and his driving, advising, helping with Michael’s getting the little girl?

14. Morale in Sarajevo, the concert and the boost to morale, the role of the arts?

15. The world of the 1990s, memories of the war in the Balkans, the first Gulf War, the genocide in Rwanda? The bombings of Serbia? In retrospect?