Sarajevo

This was made to remember the 100th anniversary of WWI for German & Austrian television. First thing I do when watching a work of historical fiction is see who the writers are. They wrote and directed documentaries. Second thing is look at the whole crew. Way down at the bottom are four names. 'Historical advisors' who also worked on documentaries. This movie poses an interesting theory and maybe is more than theory. You can see from other reviews the topic touches a nerve. This person was really this and not that, and so forth. Questioning expert opinion because it is not what you read or were taught is not the best way to critique a movie.

I agree with most of the first review, except that I highly recommend it. It could perhaps be argued that it qualifies as 'historical fiction', but then, so is very much of what actually passes for historical non-fiction-- perhaps better referred to as 'history massaged', after the fact. Not to encourage the so-called 'conspiracy theorists', but fact is that history is replete with examples of history being massaged before the fact. Whether you agree with the premise (I am still checking), fact is that it actually (to my mind, and tastes), is much more engaging than, say pretty much anything that Tom Cruise has done--because this, at least, has a very strong possibility of being not far from the truth.

This is like Oliver Stone's JFK, but in another time and another place. It is a very engaging drama that explores an utterly interesting alternative view of who were the real master minds of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that lead to the First World War. Highly recommended.

On June 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife are assassinated in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. The assassination was carried out by a group of Serbs, fuelling speculation that Serbia was behind it. Leo Pfeffer is put in charge of the investigation into the assassination and starts to turn up events and connections that seem out of place.

Intriguing drama. Tackles the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the event that lead to World War I and the deaths of millions, from a rather original angle and makes a great "What if?" mystery out of it. I was expecting this film to focus on the assassination itself but that is just a brief prelude - the focus is on the investigation and what the diligent investigator turns up.

The path the film follows is speculative - so don't expect to see much of the investigation covered in history books - but very believable. So much so that I actually had to check afterwards how much of the film is true.

Well worth watching, especially if you're a history buff.

Very engaging for the mature person. LOVELY TOO. Fine acting and strong script.