Le libérateur

One of the most painful depictions of war I've ever seen, this shows the effect of a civil war on ordinary people in a very powerful way. Stony-faced Dennis Quaid is excellent as ever as the emotionally-shut-off mercenary tiring of the pointless and unresolvable fighting in Bosnia, slowly allowing himself to feel again some years after the horrific death of his family when a woman and child inveigle themselves into his life. Some of the scenes in here are beyond horrific, particularly near the end where a massacre of civilians is made to seem quite dull and everyday to the killers. The pointlessness of such tribal warfare is emphasised by the shadowy depiction of the combatants, the almost total absence of 'good guys' and 'baddies' - I for one could rarely tell which side the soldiers on screen were supposed to represent. Certainly not for the fainthearted, this is war in all its foulness and degredation, fully exposing the evil mankind can inflict on itself. Not pleasant viewing, but a moving, powerful experience.