I guess most of us do not know much about Bosnia/Serbia except that its a small country somewhere in Europe where there was some trouble in the 1990s and there was US/NATO military intervention. (For those unfamiliar with the Bosnian war, there is a small paragraph at the end of this review). This movie is set in Bosnia in the year 2000, 5 years after the war ended.
Richard Gere plays Simon Hunt, a washed out reporter, out to bag an interview of a lifetime - with one of the most notorious Bosnian war criminals, The Fox - who also happens to have a $5 million bounty on his head. Along with him is his erstwhile partner and cameraman Duck (Terrence Howard), and a greenhorn reporter Benjamin Strauss, son of a network VP, who wants to prove to his dad that he has what it takes. Apparently inspired by a true story about five journalists who set out to find out war criminals for themselves, this movie is a fascinating yet witty account of their endeavour.
The movie is narrated by Duck, who formed an award-winning team with Simon - covering wars across the planet. However, after a massacre in a Bosnian muslim village in 1995, Simon has a meltdown on national tv - and loses his job and credibility. Now he is struggling to make ends meet, indebted to various loan sharks, while Duck does well in life and now has a cushy job in the network headquarters as well as a sexy girlfriend.
Travelling in a noisy old Mercedes, the odd trio try to track down The Fox - but get mistaken for a CIA hit squad instead. Mention must be made of the Indian UN official, who is training the Serbian police (the same guy who played NRI Mr. Kohli in Bride & Prejudice). The story is a little slow to start with, but soon becomes quite gripping, with some fast paced action, interspersed with some very witty dialogues. Both Richard Gere and Terrence Howard play their roles perfectly - showing an easy camaderie which makes it look like they REALLY are part of an old team. The junior guy Benjamin fits in with the older guys well too.
It is not all funny lines though - a flashback shows what caused Simon's breakdown on that fateful day - just one example, but enough to tell you about the brutalities perpetrated on the Bosnian muslims during the war. A very intelligently done movie on a serious premise - it could have been a classic if only the ending was a little more rational. When it was establised that The Fox is VERY well guarded, I couldnt understand how our trio could pull off their trick at the end.
But a very good movie nevertheless - with a short run time of 100 minutes. And do not miss the picture comments at the end of the movie :)
Background : Bosnia and Serbia (along with Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro & Slovenia) are small countries that were part of erstwhile Yugoslavia. After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992, Bosnia found itself with three ethnic groups - Bosniaks (or Bosnian muslims), Serbs and Croats. Bosnian Croats and Serbs declared independent republics in Croat and Serb dominated areas of Bosnia - with the support of their respective countries. And so started the Bosnian War. In an attempt to strengthen their claim over those regions, Bosnian Croats and Serbs started ethinic cleansing of the Bosnian muslims from those areas, killing and raping at will. The war lasted till 1995, when finally NATO intervention stopped it.
About 100,000 people were killed in the war and about 1.8 million displaced. However the telling figure are the civilian casualties - about 39,000, out of which 85% were Bosnian muslims. According to a well-known CIA report, 90% of the Bosnian War crimes were committed by the Serbs - and Ratko Mladić, the commander of Republic Srpska army is still missing ....
More information - Wikipedia
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