| Savior | | Cast : | Nastassja Kinski, Dennis Quaid | | Director : | Predrag Antonijevic | | Studio : | Columbia/Tristar Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | November 20, 1998 | | DVD Released Date : | November 04, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed), English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | June 03, 2005 | | Summary | It's a great movie people... | Content
 | Wow, this movie is a tough one to watch.
This film is not intended to be a factual account of the 1991-1995 war in the Balkans. It is an allegorical piece intended to show the immorality of revenge killing/raping and the denial of those who witness the event. The personification of that immorality is the main character, a mercenary, devoid of emotion and in denial of the whole situation. He awakens from his insanity towards the end but I'm not sure if he will ever overcome the past. Will the Balkans ever overcome their past?
The transition of the main character from father to killer and back to father is also allegorical to the Balkan region. How many times in the past has the region turned from peaceful to horrific to back to peace? I'm not sure if it's possible to count how many times. And every time the motive has been revenge over some injustice. Is there something bad in the water there?
The genius of the film is it's ability to show both the passivity of the victims as well as the utter lack of reaction by the perpetrators of random acts of extreme cruelty to humans. It portrays this as well as any holocaust film I've ever seen. The cowering grandmother and the image of the sledge hammer being drawn out of the golf bag still chills my soul and brings tears to my eyes. It's the sheep to the slaughter kind of thing. The cow, chewing it's cud, who looks lazily at the guy in the rubber apron holding the bolt gun. A gentle wave of the glove, you to the workhouse, you to the oven. Except the oven in this case is 10 pounds of iron wielded by a maniac in a uniform. Not even useful, as the Japanese commanders claimed bayonet practice was on live victims. Just inhuman brutality for brutality's sake.
And that's the point of the film. Not great armies fighting each other for the survival of political boundries. But rather people fighting each other for personal reasons. And that's the most brutal kind of warfare there is. no Geneva Convention applies under those circumstances.
I do agree with some reviewer's comments that the movie has a Serbian slant. But that's who the main character sided with. And he should not be considered a good guy. Neither should any of the combatants who targeted civilians, whatever the reason. I don't think it detracts from the main story as I don't think this is a finger pointing movie. The only finger points right back at each one of us because that's where the brutality stems from. Inside of each and every one of us. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 21, 2005 | | Summary | Historically Inaccurate | Content
| What was this movie fiction? It is not an accurate depiction of what happened during the Bosnian war. This was not a civil war it was an invasion by the Serbs. The world watch through blinders, taking information for the Serbs that didn't what to take responsibility for their actions which were invading a peaceful ethnically diverse country, and murdering thousands of Bosnians. Mr. Quaid--- What in the world were you thinking acting in this movie? This is a shameless attempt to rewrite history. Yes, there were atrocities done by all sides, but don't forget that the conflict was started by the Serbs, the massacres at Foca, Srebrenca, Prijdor, etc. were committed by the Serbs; that whole villages and towns were wiped out by the Serbs. This was ethnic cleansing on the Nazi level. The Serbs confused their own people, they were lied to by their government to defend their (Serb Gov't.) actions; to make the Serb masses afraid of everyone non-Serb. All of this was a way to justify their actions.
Before you watch this movie make sure that you read about this war, get everyone's opinion on the war. Read Peter Maas "Love thy neighbor".
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| Rating | | | Date | April 23, 2005 | | Summary | "This war sucks, man." | Content
| The film opens in Paris, 1987, where Joshua Rose loses both his beautiful wife (Nastassja Kinski) and young son in a terrorist bombing committed by Muslim extremists. Joshua seeks revenge on his own terms in a local mosque, and afterwards flees to join the French Foreign Legion, changing his name to "Guy". Next he finds himself a hired mercenary working for the Serbs in the brutal Bosnian conflict. He is consumed with hatred and kills without mercy, but when he meets a young pregnant Serb woman, Vera (Natasa NinKovic), everything changes as he fights to protect her and her baby.
Vera initially ignores her newborn baby and tries to commit suicide because of her shame for being raped by her previous captors. Over time, however, Guy convinces her that life is worth living, and Vera convinces him that he has a good heart. They finally learn to put aside their differences and trust one another, because it is their only hope of surviving. With Vera's family turning their back on her for her shame and with Guy sick of the pointless killing, they both try to escape their past and reach safety. Eventually, though, their close friendship is given the ultimate test when he must choose which one to save: Vera, or her baby.
"Savior" is one of the most depressing and graphic war films I've ever seen. Within the first 20 minutes a boy is shown being shot (another unfortunate victim of Joshua/Guy's), and there are two brutal scenes showing civilians being murdered, some by being clubbed to death. This is one of the few war films I've seen that I would never want to see again, not because it's a bad movie, which it isn't at all, but because some scenes are just too disturbing and heartwrenching to view. Don't expect epic battle scenes, because there are none, only heartless violence committed on helpless civilians. This is the side of war that few filmmakers choose to portray, and Peter Antonijevic bravely chose to make it one of the central themes of the film.
Dennis Quaid may not be considered a "great" actor, but here he really was marvelous and convincing. The beautiful and haunting music by David Robbins reminded me of some of the music from "Gladiator". "Savior" is unforgettable, one of the most powerful anti-war films ever made. Highly recommended, although I strongly urge you to rent it first, as this is one movie you probably won't be able to view twice. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 18, 2005 | | Summary | What if Nazi's suddenly became the good guys | Content
| I have tried to understand the Bosnian conflict by reading books and watching films. After going thru maybe 20+ books and 5 movies I could find, I would say this one really distorts the facts in a sickening way.
The Bosnian Muslims were the victims of a genocide that spared no one man, woman or child. It was a genocide commited primarily by the Serbs. The director a Seb Peter Antonijevic does not share this view, so there is no surprise there.
My suggestion is if you want to get some history or context read books instead like:
Slaughterhouse: Bosnia and the Failure of the West
The denial of Bosnia / Rusmir Mahmutæejaviæ
The suitcase : refugee voices from Bosnia and Croatia
Why Bosnia? : writings on the Balkan war / edited by Rabia Ali & Lawrence Lifschultz.
Rape warfare : the hidden genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia / Beverly Allen.
In terms of film "No Man's Land" I thought was much better. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 03, 2005 | | Summary | Mostly one sided and misleading | Content
| The movie, in my opinion, is propaganda against Muslims. I am a Muslim from Bosnia and I believe the movie made by a Serb is completely favoring the Serbs. One part especially disturbing to me was the rape of the Serb woman by Muslims. Anyone who knows anything about the conflict knows that it was the Serbs who used rape as a weapon of war in their ethnic cleansing of Muslims. Ofcourse the Muslims are not without blame but the entire movie seems to switch the roles of the Serbs and Muslims. For someone who doesn't know about Bosnia and what happened this movie could completely give them the wrong message. Until the Serbs stop making propagandist movies such as this and admit to themselves and their victims what they did and why there will never be peace in the Balkans. |
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