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When naval fighter navigator Lieutenant Chris Burnett (Owen Wilson) is shot down during an apparently successful cease-fire over Serb-held Bosnian territory while on a Christmas Day reconnaissance mission and his pilot Lieutenant Jeremy Stackhouse (Gabriel Macht) is summarily executed by Bosnian-Serb General Miroslav Lokar's (Olek Krupa) assassin Sasha (Vladimir Mashkov), Burnett is left to make his way alone to the rally point. Meanwhile, his commanding officer Admiral Leslie Reigart (Gene Hackman) finds himself in conflict with his superior officer, Admiral Juan Miguel Piquet (Joaquim de Almeida), when Reigart orders a search-and-rescue mission to save Burnett. Piquet fears that any attempt to rescue Burnett from behind enemy lines could throw Bosnia into more civil war, thus hampering NATO's withdrawal from the nation. Consequently, Burnett is ordered to make his way to a new extraction point in the friendly zone, a long and dangerous trek that takes him through mine fields, mass graves, and war torn Bosnian villages all the while being pursued by Lokar, Sasha, and their Bosnian-Serb forces.

The film is based on a story by American screenwriting brothers James and John Thomas and a screenplay by David Veloz and Zak Penn. Behind Enemy Lines was followed by three unrelated sequels: Dietro le linee nemiche II - L'asse del male (2006) (2006), Dietro le linee nemiche III - Missione Colombia (2009) (2009), and Seal Team Eight: Behind Enemy Lines (2014) (2014).

The Bosnian War took place between April 1992 and December 1995 following the breakup of Yugoslavia. After Bosnia seceded from Yugoslavia, tensions between Bosnia's Serb, Muslim and Croat communities rapidly descended into war between these groups, with, at the height of the conflict, each side fighting each other. The Bosnian War gained international attention because of the numerous war crimes committed, especially by Serbian forces. Growing concern over mounting atrocities led to international intervention, eventually resulting in a peace treaty that ended hostilities in Bosnia in December 1995. While Bosnia has remained at peace since the end of the war, lingering animosities between the country's ethnic groups have hampered progress at full recovery.

No definitive reason is given during the movie, but the general consensus of viewers is that Sasha was a lone wolf, a freelance assassin exclusively loyal to Lokar. He resented having to lug Bazda, an inexperienced officer and possible liability in combat, along with him on his mission to kill Burnett.

For the most part, the film is loosely based on the experiences of U.S. Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady. In June 1995, during the war in Bosnia, O'Grady was patrolling Bosnian airspace in part of a NATO-enforced no-fly zone and was shot down by Bosnian Serb forces near the town of Mrkonjic Grad. O'Grady spent six days in Bosnian Serb-controlled territory before he was rescued by US Marines. O'Grady subsequently filed a suit against the film's producers for defamation and for making a movie about his ordeal without his permission. The case was ultimately settled out of court. Nevertheless, the events of the film differ significantly from O'Grady's experiences, such as that he never engaged in combat with his pursuers, nor did he enter populated areas.

Viewers who have seen Behind Enemy Lines have also recommended Savior (1998) ( in which an American fights in Bosnia as a mercenary, and Harrison's Flowers (2000) in which an American woman travels into Yugoslavia during the troubles in an attempt to find her journalist husband. No Man's Land - Terra di nessuno (2001) is a Bosnian-produced film about the War that won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Lepa sela lepo gore (1996) (Pretty Village, Pretty Flame) (1996) is thought of as THE definitive film about the Bosnian War. Though it takes place in Macedonia, Prima della pioggia (1994) details the stirring ethnic hatreds akin to those in Bosnia. Il segreto di Esma (2006) details, in a way, the aftereffects.