Gritty war drama with great acting and cinematography , set in war-torn Yugoslavia , that reaches its dramatic climax with the siege of Sarajevo , at the height of the fighting . Based on true experiences from Arturo Pérez Reverte and concerning about war conflict , Chetniks against Bosnians , as well as the cruelty and danger of modern photojournalism . It deals with Spanish journalists and TV reporters covering the War in Bosnia , in the besieged Sarajevo , they are mainly the followings : Mikel Uriarte (Imanol Arias alter ego to Reverte) , José (a true cameraman who accompanied Reverte , being well played by Carmelo Gómez) and Laura Riera (Cecilia Dopazo). A successful TV reporter called Laura (Cecilia Dopazo) who works in Channel 4 travels to the surrounded city of Sarajevo to collaborate with other newsmen . As she joins to Mikel (Imanol Arias) , an experimented war journalist and his cameraman José (Carmelo Gómez) , along with the Croatian interpret Jadranka (Mirta Zecevic) , the German photographer Helga (Natasa Lusetic) and the Argentinean reporter Manuel (Gaston Pauls) . Together , they're determined to make their works through the chaotic landscape of the bombed Sarajevo . Laura embarks on a perilous journey to find surprising news for her TV channel , while she runs into over there ; immersing herself into a world she never fathomed .
The film is an adventure that embark a motley trio of young front-line photojournalists and TV reporters , all of them have courage , integrity and determination ; being a nice film for those interested in seeing the insanity of the Easter-Europe war . Realistic and by most part very accurate display of urban warfare but with some brief implausibilities . The story blends action , thought-provoking drama , thrills and some of humor with irony and tongue in cheek . It packs a relentless critical to the war horror and realized in realistic value , including the gruesome slaying by snipers , bombing , killings and the crowed Sarajevo cemetery . Although , at times , it lacks an adequate dramatic developing and it falls short . The details , such as locations , army uniforms and equipment , names, places , scenes and the geographic and historic facts , are pretty much all spot-on true . The film does not glamourise the realities of late Balkan warfare , graphically depicting the atrocities perpetrated by all sides in the wars which engulfed the former Yugoslavia . This ¨Territorio Comanche¨ belongs to the Yugoslavia War sub-genre similarly to ¨Harrison's flowers¨ (2000) by Élie Chouraqui , ¨No Man's Land¨ (2001) by Danis Tanovic and ¨The Hunting Party¨ (2007) by Richard Shepard . Being a Spanish/French/Argentinean co-production here appears various actors from various nationalities . As the movie contains an excellent trio of players : Imanol Arias , Carmelo Gómez , and Cecilia Dopazo . All of them give awesome interpretations , being supported by a magnificent support cast such as Mirta Zecevic , Bruno Todeschini and Gastón Pauls .
It is based on a novel written by Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte and screenplay by the same filmmaker , Gerardo Herrero and the subsequently director Salvador Garcia Ruiz . Reverte is a Spanish journalist and TV reporter, who turned to writer and today the best-selling author in Spain and the best-selling Spanish author in the world . Famous author of "Alatriste" novels as he carried out quite a lot of the work of investigating historical documents relating to 17th Century Madrid . His novels have the common thread of being based on real historical times and that in each case a great deal of investigation goes into the making of his stories , as well as the fact that he has had to learn a great deal on topics ranging from chess-playing to historical first-editions from 16th Century Dutch masters to Informatics and even swordsmanship . His extraordinary imaginative abilities have been able to produce well-written adventure stories , being adapted for cinema the following novels : ¨The Fencing Master¨ , ¨Territorio Comanche¨ , ¨The ninth gate¨ , ¨Cachito¨ , ¨Gitano¨ , ¨Uncovered¨ based on ¨La tabla De Flandes¨ and ¨Carta Esferica .
Colorful and evocative cinematography by Alfredo Mayo , being totally filmed on location in Sarajevo ; Mayo is considered to be one of the best Spanish cameramen , he has photographed known titles as ¨Barrio¨, The method¨, ¨High heels¨, ¨Kika¨ , ¨Mondays in the sun¨ , "The Galíndez File" ¨Kamchatka¨, "The Place That Was Paradise" , among others . Emotive as well as atmospheric musical score by Iván Wyszogrod who has composed a lot of Bosnian attractive songs . The motion picture was professionally written/produced and directed by Gerardo Herrero who gives a perfect and tough portrayal of the war reporters . Gerardo is a famous producer as well as filmmaker . He was President of the Spanish Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (1994-1994) . Great producer of big hits , being especially known for The Secret of your ears (2009), Sin Retorno (2010) , Balada Triste de Trompeta (2010) , Crimenes De Oxford (2008) and El Hijo De La Novia (2001). He also directed some good films such as ¨Corredor Nocturno¨ , ¨Principio Arquímedes¨ , ¨Crimen Galindez¨ , ¨Frontera Sur¨, ¨Territorio Comanche¨ , ¨Desvio a Paraíso¨ , ¨Al Acecho¨ and ¨Heroína¨ . Despite some failure and gaps , I must admit that I enjoyed this movie and recommend it to those who appeal the war reporters drama/thrillers .
