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Welcome to Sarajevo

Welcome to Sarajevo

War · Drama · History · 1997

Follow a group of international journalists into the heart of the once cosmopolitan city of Sarajevo—now a danger zone of sniper and mortar attacks where residents still live. While reporting on an American aid worker who’s trying to get children out of the country, a British correspondent decides to take an orphaned girl home to London.

Movie details

Welcome to Sarajevo

“To get the story, they’ll risk everything.”

1997 War · Drama · History 1h 43m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.7 / 10

7.9K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

80 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

72 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

6.5 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Follow a group of international journalists into the heart of the once cosmopolitan city of Sarajevo—now a danger zone of sniper and mortar attacks where residents still live. While reporting on an American aid worker who’s trying to get children out of the country, a British correspondent decides to take an orphaned girl home to London.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Welcome to Sarajevo?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Michael Winterbottom

Written by

Frank Cottrell Boyce · Michael Nicholson

Stephen Dillane

Stephen Dillane

Michael Henderson

Woody Harrelson

Woody Harrelson

Flynn

Marisa Tomei

Marisa Tomei

Nina

Goran Višnjić

Goran Višnjić

Risto Bavić

E

Emira Nušević

Emira

Kerry Fox

Kerry Fox

Jane Carson

James Nesbitt

James Nesbitt

Gregg

Court is in session

Put Welcome to Sarajevo on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.