Kiss the Future

Kiss the Future is an interesting film about the hope that U2 gave to the citizens of Sarajevo by supporting them throughout the war and organizing a concert 2 years after the Dayton peace agreement was signed.

However the film is written in a way that is trying to make it a "one-size-fits-all" war movie about the Siege of Sarajevo with a slight spinoff into the U2 concert and how much it meant for the Sarajevans in 1997, being a symbol of unity and prosperity after those hard years. In fact the whole "Kiss the Future" optimistic narrative is clustered into the final mi nutes as some sort of a triumph after presenting the viewer with some key data about the Siege of Sarajevo and the stories of people involved.

By trying to appeal to all audiences and present everything in a short amount of time it loses artistic value and sets itself up as a rather sad war drama movie instead of an optimistic historical event movie that saw the community come together and do the impossible just 2 years after the bombing stopped, with parts of the city still in ruins. Hence it feels like a poorly written documentary with badly selected actors that uses emotion and empathy to get good reviews and festival awards, especially after such an ending.