Harrison's Flowers

I just saw "Welcome to Sarajevo", a film that got a lot of press and positive remarks when it came out. I only suspect that much of the press was based on the fact that it came out only a couple of years after the end of that terrible war in Bosnia.

Just as in "Welcome" this film also depicts the life of journalists, trying to understand and convey the happenings in a country once believed to be almost western. (Which, I suspect, is the reason that it had such an impact on the western psyche.) As everbody else has pointed out this is where the best characters are found, especially Adrian Brodys character.

Several others have already pointed out that the main story revolving around a lost love and an heroic wife trying to save her husband is really awkward. But since you need somekind of story, that might just as well be it. I saw this film a second time just recently and actually managed to ignore the plot and focuse on the description of the madness that was eastern Croatia in the early 1990´s.

This film has an incredible feeling, the settings, the photography and the score makes it come really close to being in an actual war. I cant really praise this enough. Compared to "Welcome" this film hits you in the guts as it shows the brutality of urban warfare and the senseless killings that occur in all wars.

Other films about Bosnia that are recommended if you like this one, "No mans land", "Pretty Village, Pretty fire" and "Savior". And why not give "Welcome" a chance too.

Thank goodness for Brendan Gleeson and Adrien Brody. Without their performances, this movie would have been a waste of time. I couldn't stand Andie MacDowell's character. She plays a totally stupid woman. Anyone with any sense would have contacted the Red Cross and other international agencies and asked them to look for her husband, but she foolishly marches into the middle of a civil war and risks the lives of her husband's colleagues because she is so deeply in love. Of course, it would have been a different movie if her character acted with any brains and maturity. At a time when her children needed her the most, she leaves them and almost gets killed herself. The audience is supposed to think this is wonderful because it is so romantic. Give me a break.

I doubt very many will ever get to see Harrison's flowers. This is really the most misleadingly titled movie i can recall. The title and the fact that it stars Andie MacDowell reaks cuddly romantic girl movie. Nothing could be farther from the truth !

Instead this movie turns out to be one of the better warmovies i've seen in recent years.

The story is actually similar to that of "saving private ryan" and it's portrayal of war as griping and realistic. Only this time we're not put into the shoes of soldiers storming up a bulletsprayed beach but in the shoes of the civilians that cover the wars: the photojournalists. And the heroics is not killing the enemy but simply to bring the world a glimpse of what goes on inside a the chaotic inferno that is a warzone.

Andie MacDowell plays Sarah Lloyd a suberban mother of two and voted "most unlikely to be found inside a warzone" in her highschool yearbook. When her husband "Harrison" (a roughneck newsweek warphotographer) goes missing in wartorn Croatia 1991. She basicly picks up a camera herself and goes over there to find him. Rather unbelievable but it works well to set up the real story.

'Harrison's Flowers' is a harrowing drama set during the 1990s Balkan wars, seen through the eyes of war photographers and correspondents. I don't recall it getting a cinema release here in the UK - but caught up with it on DVD.

The 'hook' of the story is that Sarah Lloyd (Andie MacDowell) travels to Croatia in 1991 to try to find and rescue her husband Harrison, a prize-winning journalist who is missing, presumed killed. (The flowers of the title are those in his greenhouse - tended in his absence by their young son). It's a contrivance - indeed, because we don't see the characters together for long, it's difficult to invest much in their relationship - but functions as the plot mechanism (however creaky) to get the heroine away from her safe life in the US into the war zone, where her adventures really start. So it's essentially a classic quest-and-rescue narrative - unusually, with a woman doing the seeking. (Hence, I suspect, some of the criticisms about Sarah's search risking orphaning her children; I'm not sure this would be raised if the sexes of missing person and seeker were reversed.)

The film does not glamourise the realities of late 20C Balkan warfare, graphically depicting the atrocities perpetrated by all sides in the wars which engulfed the former Yugoslavia. The story reaches its dramatic climax with the siege of Vukovar.

Adrien Brody gives an outstanding performance as the bitter, troubled but brave young front-line photojournalist Kyle Morris. Like many in his profession, Kyle takes drugs and swears like a trooper - but he also has courage, integrity, and the face of an El Greco saint. He is the real hero of the story, and Brody, a truly remarkable actor, comes to dominate the film. Brendan Gleeson is also excellent as his older colleague, Stevenson. It is refreshing, too, to see Andie MacDowell in a role in which she is not simply eye-candy/cute chick-flick heroine. The fact that Sarah is not always likable is one of the strengths of the film, and surely a sign that it is a European production: Hollywood films seem too hamstrung at times by worrying about making their protagonists 'likable' - flawed, difficult characters are more human and more interesting. Gerard Butler and Alun Armstrong, among others, provide good support.

As to whether Sarah finds Harrison, or if she and her friends make it home in one piece - I'm not saying: see the film! All I will say is, it did not turn out how I had expected, and my h/c complex kicked in significantly at one point.

On DVD, get the French 2-disc Special Edition if you can. There are deleted scenes (mainly Sarah and Harrison, family and friends in the US), cast interviews, a digital effects feature, theme song video, & c.. Sadly, the only UK release was a single disc with just a trailer. One of the deleted scenes addresses an issue which concerned some reviewers - Sarah's guilt-feelings about leaving her children. The interview with Adrien Brody (looking very handsome) is interesting: he discusses how he sees Kyle's relationship with Sarah, and also how he drew on his photographer mother's colleagues in portraying the character.

Outstanding war drama. Grim, realistic - and what a fantastic cast. I have no idea why this film isn't more widely known - it certainly deserves to be - or actually, I do have an idea why it tanked. The cheesy title plus the fact that Andie MacDowell - the (then) "rom-com queen" - is in it, and that the film received next to no marketing are very likely reasons why nobody went to see this. But YOU should. It's worth it. 8 stars out of 10.

In case you're interested in more underrated masterpieces, here's some of my favorites:

imdb.com/list/ls070242495