Warriors (1999) (TV)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Peter Kosminsky

Writer:

Leigh Jackson (writer)

Release Date:

29 November 1999 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

After seeing devastating results of ethnic war in former Yugoslavia soldiers from UNPROFOR peace units find it impossible to return back to their civil lives in the UK. |

Plot Keywords:

Child Murder | Ethnic Hatred | Fire | Atrocity | Genocide

Awards:

11 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Matthew Macfadyen	...	Pte. Alan James
Darren Morfitt	...	Pte. Peter Skeet
Cal Macaninch	...	Sgt. Andre Sochanik
Ioan Gruffudd	...	Lt. John Feeley
Joe Renton	...	Cpl. Gary Sprague
Steve Chaplin	...	Pte. Tommy Redmond
Damian Lewis	...	Lt. Neil Loughrey
Jodhi May	...	Emma
Pauline Yates	...	Gran
Shaun Dooley	...	Pte. John Hookway
Gregory Chisholm	...	Pte. Martin Rook (as Greg Chisholm)
Simon Shepherd	...	Major 'Brick' Stone
Tom Ward	...	Capt. Richard Gurney
Predrag Bjelac	...	Naser Zec (as Pedja Bjelac)
Ifan Meredith	...	Lt. Jonathan Engel

Also Known As:

Peacekeepers (USA)

Runtime:

Sweden:175 min (2 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Prague, Czech Republic

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Quotes:

Pvt. Alan James: I used to dream about scoring the winning goal for Liverpool on Wembley. Now I dream about walking on dead bodies, because that's what I did.

great drama depicting the british soldiers in Bosnia.

As far as I´m concerned Warriors is a very realistic depiction of what it was like in Bosnia during the war. It shows the brutality being committed to civilians and how the "hopeless" Un-mandate could comfuse (and disgust) both the population and the soldiers themselves. Just look what happened in the "safe sone" of Srebrenica(!).

But one must bare in mind that the events depicted here is just in One particular region of Bosnia. Here it happenes to be the British-sector in the Travnic, Vitez, Amichi area. Some incidents I know happened (like the burned victims in the cellar) and some are most likely made up, but surely with the intent of realism in mind. Here obviosly the Serbs outnumbered the Muslims and therefor had most of the control. This I mention because after reading two comments here, both from Bosnia oe most likely to be Serb (saying that the depictions in this film are "black and white" portrayed) and one Muslim (Finding the film to be very realistic, having lived through the whole war in Sarajevo.)

Having been in bosnia myself I think I can appreciate this film more. Being shot in Tsjekkia it still looks very much like Bosnia. Although it was wery calm there then (in -99),long after the war was over. The UN had been replaced by the NATO forces(maybe a bit too late). But the work consisted of pretty much the same(except for the extreme tasks given as the result of war off cource) , driving around in our "sizu`s", working with local interpreters and keeping in touch with the local population. The following year I went to Kosovo, a more recent conflict. During that war NATO bombed Serbia in protest of the treatment given to the Albanians in Kosovo. When we arrived(early 2000) the situation had turned to the opposite and it was mostly the Serbs who had to be kept safe of the Albanians, who had started returning to Kosovo.

So I agree that there is no such thing as a "black and white" explanation of the tragedy. There was surely bad deeds made by all "sides", as in every war.

Film rates 10/10!