Sarajevo

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

A slow though decent film about the assassination of the Austro-Hungarian prince which ultimately led to World War I. The film views events through the eyes of an investigative magistrate and suggests there is much more beneath the surface than simply Serbian nationalism. A love interest is woven into the story to 'humanize' the plot .

A movie for those interested in history. Others will find it boring and difficult to complete.

I was pleasantly surprised with this movie. As a history geek I had this on my list for a while and finally watched it. It gives a great account of the tone and atmosphere in Sarajevo during the time. Fantastic costumes and authentic set pieces. There are not many useless scenes in the movie and it is paced very well. It does not waste your time. It has this great sense of impending doom, as if Austria-Hungary at the time was like a coke bottle with Mentos in it shaken up.

If you understand the historical context and the details of the event, this movie will captivate you. I find it disingenuous to rate movies based on historical accuracy as most history movies do not try to be 100% accurate. Despite this Sarajevo gives an incredibly detailed account of what happened but gives a nice spin on it making you wonder if what we know is the truth. It's the kind of movie that makes you re-educate yourself on what actually happened. It's not amazing but it is a solid 7/10 movie and not too long.

Frankly with a good history teacher giving context, this could be shown in classrooms.

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.

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.