"No Man's Land" (2001) - Movie Classics

When all the people in India were praying for “Lagaan” to win an Oscar for 2001 Best Foreign Film, one movie defeated it and clinched it away from the hands of Aamir Khan. Keeping aside that factor, “No Man’s Land” is one of a kind for a war movie. It has comedy, thrill and most of all, the blame factor which takes away innocent lives unnecessarily.

The movie starts right from frame one. War in between Serbia and Bosnia. The Bosnian civil soldiers try to cross the border when they get spotted and showered with bullets. Everyone dies except one Bosnian. He hides in a trench in between both the territories which essentially is a No Man’s Land. Two Serbian Soldiers come to clean up the unfinished job and one set a bouncing mine over a “supposedly” dead Bosnian soldier. The plot meets an interesting spot wherein the Bosnian survivor kills one out of the two Serbian soldiers. Now starts the ultimate movie wherein both of them need to survive in the trench without getting shot by either of their own people. Things get intense when the soldier over bouncing mine is actually alive.

There are no supposedly “important” characters even though with the storyline it seems highly impossible. All the actors do a wonderful job. The movie flashes the harsh reality of a “so-called” peace. The political pressure, the media business, the human values and the basic hatred even by the matured people on pressure situations are all been wrapped up well and gifted to the audience.

There are no gruesome bloodsheds for a war movie or the unimaginable Sunny Deol heroic patriotism. Plain and simple fact about how cruel a war can be and how tough it is for the people with values to digest it.

With the right mix of comic and seriousness, this movie definitely deserves its Oscar and would suggest for all the people not to miss it.