Svjedoci

Civil War makes criminals out of neighbors and murderers out of soldiers. These are well known truths: painfully familiar lessons from the recent Balkan civil wars and now horribly visible in the Iraqi slaughter of Sunni and Shia. But there are always a few rare souls who will seek the same justice for all, whatever their own tragic hardships, whatever the added burden such moral commitment may bring. This remarkable war movie about the recent Serbo- Croatian War explores two such persons, living in a world of utter moral chaos. What is so special about them? Can we fathom their motivations?

When so many act out of greed, vengeance, ethnic hatred, it is hard to explain why a few refuse to do so. If we are all witnesses to atrocities in such situations, we are also all implicated in them. But how can persons who are caught up in the unmitigated horrors of a brutal, bloody civil war find the moral resources to resist such degradation, whatever the consequences to themselves?

The story has potential... the suspense is there however the film had a lot of rough edges and there was too much drama.

The story is set in Croatia during the factional wars that broke out in the 1990s--Serbs versus Croats in this case. A murder is carried out and the only witness is a young girl--what will happen to her?

The film abruptly jumps back in time several times replaying everything but adding more details each time at first I thought it was a defective DVD... Have never seen that done before.

Instead of intellectual gimmicks like this the film maker should have concentrated on toning down the silly dramatic scenes ... they don't wash.

It comes off as a grade B movie with intellectual pretensions.

Hard to rate something like this except comparing it to other films from the region.. Klopka (Serbian) was much better. so this film gets 5 stars..although it will engage you it just needs more refinement.

Tough to digest movie. But it recalls very vividly the heaviness of war. It shows the gallery of characters who typically benefit from the war and also the ones who get lost in it. My favourite character is bartender Ljubo (Predrag Vusovic), disillusioned, "leave me alone" kind of person, who is very well embedded in the war economy. Kind of a survivor who hates the way his life still goes on. Some of the war scenes may seem shocking to the viewers who were lucky enough not to witness the war in their countries. But for the rest of us, they are very familiar. As for the technical part, the movie is somehow confusing with its back and forth story-line, and some of the acting is not always convincing, but all considered, it's still a great movie for vaccinating someone against military fever.

(2003) Witnesses/ Svjedoci (In Croatian with English subtitles) POLITICAL MYSTERY DRAMA

Adapted from the novel written by Jurica Pavicic who was also credited for co-writing the screenplay along with it's director, Vinko Bresan. The film opens with 3 soldiers in uniform killing a man after a planned break in of a man's home, When lead investigator, Barbir (Drazen Kuhn) investigates, viewers find out that the killing may be a political since this was during the times when hostilities and tensions arises when both Serbia and Croatians must get along. As the title indicates called "Wiitnesses", there also may be a possible "witness" in which viewers are oblivious about who is being held captive.

Well done film about the Third Balkan War in the 1990s, in this case, Croats vs. Serbs. The film takes a single incident--the killing of a Serb civilian who lives in a predominantly Croat town during the war--by Croat soldiers. This starts the plot rolling. Soon layer after layer of the true story is revealed as the movie shifts backs to certain scenes and repeats them from a slightly different angle and perspective. In this particular film, the technique is used very effectively without being annoying or pretentious.

I agree with many of the other reviewers--an underrated film that should be watched. I give it 8 stars.

Note: as of Sep 2013, this film is available on Netflix Instant View as well as DVD. Glad I found it.