Savior

At first on hearing Dennis Quaid I thought this would be usual "Hollywood Hero saves the world" offering from the Hollywood Studios. How wrong I was,Dennis Quaid gives a stunning performance of a good man struggling to understand a world of brutality and inhumanity. Against all odds he does what he thinks his right and realizes the baby represents the only hope he and the human race have? There will probably be critics from those who were involved the conflict who will say this is an inaccurate "Hollywood Version" of events.This may or may not be true, but what Quaid has done here is made a bridge from the world depicted here and the rest of the world not involved in the conflict, enabling us to understand it more.

This film is not mainstream enough to have become a blockbuster,with lots of honours, but I would like to think Quaid and Kinski will remain justifiably proud of their involvement in this film for all time.

1993, Bosnia. Having seen his wife and son murdered by Muslim terrorists, Guy has become bitter and hard and is fighting as a mercenary for the Serbs. When a prisoner exchange sees his partner take a girl he knows and try to kill her and her unborn mixed child, Guy is forced to kill him to protect them. However he then finds himself in a bitter war with a woman and child that no one wants.

I have seen this movie twice now and can find little to dislike about it, but also realise that it is not for a fun evening in with friends. The film is unrelentingly bleak and depressing as it is a look at the bitter and cruel war fought in Bosnia. The subject matter is framed around Guy, as a man who has been turned hard by the horror he has seen and it works well for this reason. We see it through the eyes of a man who has seen it all and has no more hurt left to feel. The film doesn't simply act out atrocities for us to watch but frames them within this story – however we know that nothing is made up or exaggerated in terms of the bigger picture.

The film lacks any sort of traditional American cop-out (it's no spoiler to say that Guys wife and child don't turn out to be alive after all!), only the opening `this is why he's like this' 10 minutes are a little too neat and could have been dispensed with – I didn't need it to explain why he was dead inside, only that he had become it due to war – which was partly true. However this doesn't really take away from the film, only slightly weaken the character.

The cast are pretty good but the film is 99% Quaid's. He gives a great performance which is subtle and very downbeat. His eyes are where most of the acting occurs and he does it very well – his character is very unsympathetic and has only a marginal redemption to look forward to but yet Quaid mixes it very well. Kinski is out of the film before her name has even appeared on screen, while Ninkovic does a good job, again despite a unsympathetic character. The rest of the cast are OK but hard to judge as much of the dialogue is in Serbo-Croatian and their performances are hard to judge. Faces such as Skarsgård add interest, but I did wonder why he had bothered for such a short time on screen.

Overall this is not a fun film to rent on Friday night but a bleak anti-war film that will leave you in no doubt that the conflict in Bosnia (and perhaps everywhere else) is of no value when compared to the enormous cost in terms of human life and suffering.

I suspect that for most Western Europeans and Americans the name 'Bosnia' is now no longer simply the name of a country, but also carries a subliminal implication of atrocity and ethnic viciousness. I doubt, then, that many people would approach this film with any false expectations of what it will contain.

That said, viewers should not come to this film for a political explanation of why and how the war happened - for that, it's probably best to read a few books. This film does attempt to give a human explanation of how and why wars like this one happen and continue to happen, though.

Inevitably, some have accused Savior of bias; though an American film, the director is a Serb, and it was filmed on location in Montenegro; with such emotive subject matter partiality would hardly be surprising. Indeed, the film does not flinch from discussing atrocities committed by Bosnian Muslims. Those who accuse this film of being pro-Serb, however, should consider that one of the most hateful caracters in the whole film, whom we witness carrying out pointlessly vicious acts of cruelty and mysogyny, and who happily admits to being a serial rapist, is himself a Serb.

Viewers should instead look to the human heart of this film. Dennis Quaid gives us a superb performance, rendering a character of some complexity (look at his expression when one character tells him 'You are a good man'). He is ably matched by Natasja Nincovic's complicated, battered portrayal of a Serb woman - and not merely a 'rape victim' stereotype that we know from other films.

There is a religious subtext for those who like looking for such things - plenty of Christ imagery, chiming nicely with the title. There is a special irony in the cross Joshua carries; apparently a Catholic, he has come to Bosnia specifically to kill Muslims in revenge for the loss of his family in a terrorist bombing - yet by joining the Serbs he is also aligned against the Catholic Croats. Perhaps this says something about the self-destructive nature of his revenge, and about his own internal conflict. This is a film about a man divided against himself, in a country divided against itself.

It is particularly effective that the main character in this film is an American. We are tempted to comfortably see him as 'one of us', a decent man in the midst of a barbaric war - but we are not allowed such passive comforts. Eaten by revenge and pain, little seperates Joshua from his barbaric 'sidekick' Goran, whose mindless cruelty he meets with contempt but also inaction. His own conduct is difficult to stomach, but nonetheless presented as the actions of a human, not a monster.

What Antonijevic's film does, then, is look at the line between those who have, and those who have not, become indifferent to the suffering of others - it is in this way that the perpetuation of war is explored. There are no politics, no discussion of religion, or of 'age old ethnic hatreds'. The focus of this strong film is the simple human cost both in lives extinguished and lives mutilated by war. Indeed, for those not very familiar with the details of the war in Bosnia, the practical anonymity of the different soldiers throughout the film will heighten the sense of War as something soldiers do to Civilians.

People who respect and appreciate this film should steer clear of the recent Behind Enemy Lines however - it reuses fragments of the Lake scene in Savior to simplistically anti-Serb effect, completely bastardising the intent of the people who originally created those images.

Nonetheless, despite what has been done to it Savior remains beautifully acted, tragic, mature film-making.

This is one of the - very - few war films that actually show war for what it really is, and what it means for the civilians caught up in it. There are no impressive explosions and visual effects, adrenaline-driven missions or brotherly scenes of camaraderie. This film shows humanity's dark side without flinching. Hard to stomach but highly recommended. 8 stars out of 10.

In case you're interested in more underrated masterpieces, here's some of my favorites:

imdb.com/list/ls070242495

I watched this movie with skepticism but I have to admit I was wrong. This is a powerful movie and it left me drained out by the time it got over. The last 15 to 20 minutes are sure to move even the cold hearted so,I am surprised and saddened that there are still some folks here at the forum fighting over its anti/pro Muslim/Serbian credentials.

There is no winner in any war - only despair & death and at times, a faint glimmer of hope. Saviour depicts this with astonishing realism and at times,is difficult to watch but I guess that what war is all about. Dennis Quaid gives an Oscar winning performance and considering, the fact that Oliver Stone produced this, it has a antiwar platoonesque feel to it.