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Review

Director Winterbottom's astonishing film about life during wartime is heavy stuff, but Welcome to Sarajevo is distinguished by its focus on humanity. Henderson (Dillane), a jaded British news correspondent, is stunned by the atrocities and conditions that surround him in war-torn Bosnia. He and fellow journalists live in makeshift hotels, and booze it up nightly as the reports they file get buried in their country's telecasts. As Henderson befriends his new driver Risto (Visnjic), he investigates the real Sarajevo, and makes a risky decision to save the life of Emira (Nusevic), an orphan girl he meets one day. The film's tense centerpiece is the rescue of Emira, but Winterbottom also presents the fight to keep this illegally saved child in England where she can have a better life. A hard-hitting and extremely well-made film, Welcome to Sarajevo is as powerful as it is poignant.