Film “Behind Enemy Lines”

10 Jul 13

This movie chases after a hide-and-seek game between an American pilot and Serbs. Owen Wilson plays Chris Burnett, a witty and bored pilot who is sent on a holiday mission—just to practice I think.

Dying for excitement, he convinces his co-pilot to change course and thus stumble into a no-fly zone controlled by Serbs. While taking pictures of the region, his plane is shot down. After parachuted out of the burning plane, his co-pilot is captured by the Serbian army and shot in the head by a Serb sniper dressed in civilian clothing. Right after discovering the presence of another pilot (Chris), Serb soldiers and a sniper are sent to finish him of. “You shoot him in the head,” ordered a Serb commander. Chris’ leader, played by Gene Hackman, organizes a rescue mission for Burnett but runs into trouble, that is politics.

Eventually, a rescue team flew to Bosnia. However, thing gets complicated as, to escape from a Serb’s raid at a Muslims’ hideout, Chris switches uniformed with a dead Serb soldier. Pressed the media pressure and the presence of the rescue team, the Serbs announce that they’ve found the dead American soldier (Chris) and claim that the Muslims shot him instead. “Behind Enemy Lines” is not a movie I’m going to recommend to some one who wants to learn something about the recent conflict in Bosnia This entire film, shot in Slovakia, is more about a single American soldier who outsmarts the Serbs and American military’s honor code. There is no interaction between Chris and the Muslims except for the scenes where he is rescued by a group of fighters who think they can use him because they saw him on TV. The Muslims are portrayed as crazy, non-emotional and cowardice. When Chris decides to return to the site where his pilot was shot down to recover the digital films, the Muslim fighter who flees with him decides to part way because it is too dangerous to walk over the site. The Croatians are absent from this film except for one brief mentioning in the beginning. The Serbs are painted to be ruthless and calculated.

“Behind Enemy Lines” is not a movie I’m going to recommend to someone who wants to learn something about the recent conflict in Bosnia This entire film, shot in Slovakia, is more about a single American soldier who outsmarts the Serbs and American military’s honor code. There is no interaction between Chris and the Muslims except for the scenes where he is rescued by a group of fighters who think they can use him because they saw him on TV. The Muslims are portrayed as crazy, non-emotional and cowardice. When Chris decides to return to the site where his pilot was shot down to recover the digital films, the Muslim fighter who flees with him decides to part way because it is too dangerous to walk over the site. The Croatians are absent from this film except for one brief mentioning in the beginning. The Serbs are painted to be ruthless and calculated.

If you don’t know nor understand anything about this war, you will have no clue just by watching the movie.

cindy

bosnia

Balkans >>, Bosnia Herzegovina, Culture & Society, Europe >>

Film “Behind Enemy Lines”