No Man's Land
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corporation (MGM) | Release Date: December 7, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
84
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
28
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
No Man's Land is a 98-minute wonder: this story of three men in a trench renews the meaning of the word "trenchant." Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
In the remarkable, ferociously intelligent new film No Man's Land, Bosnian writer-director Danis Tanovic gives us a movie portrait of the Bosnian War, a conflict that has devastated his country, friends and neighbors -- and found in it both shocking humor and searing, relentless tragedy. Read full review
100
New Times (L.A.)Jean Oppenheimer
Tanovic describes it as "a very serious film with a sense of humor." It is an apt description for a very remarkable film, one of the best of the year. Read full review
100
New York PostLou Lumenick
An absorbing, deeply affecting, well-acted --and remarkably evenhanded -- antiwar statement. It's also incredibly suspenseful and very blackly funny. Read full review
100
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Almost more valuable as a piece of foreign policy than as the highly accomplished work of cinema it is. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The film is exciting in two big ways: its simplicity of story (Tanovic does not get bogged down trying to give us an epic history) and the breadth of Tanovic's vision. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
A savage comedy about the war in the former Yugoslavia that artfully mixes comic absurdism with a passion for what's right and a concern for the individuality of all concerned. Read full review
90
TimeRichard Schickel
All the actors in No Man's Land are wonderfully alive, fractious and unpredictable. Their performances also help break down the schematics and turn this into an emotionally potent, powerfully thoughtful and finally tragic experience.
90
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Fierce, funny and finally devastating, Tanovic's superb film offers a timely look at the roots of civil war and acts of terrorism on both sides that can be exploited by political and media hypocrites alike. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
A deeply serious and seriously hilarious fable of the lunacy of war.
90
L.A. WeeklySteven Mikulan
Tanovic steers his story away from feel-good brotherhood clichés and toward the darker reaches of human nature. The principal cast is excellent. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Begins and ends quietly, like stirrings of thunder from a distant storm. In between comes a tragedy that rolls over us like a compact hurricane. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It's a bleakly funny parable that could be titled "Between Enemy Lines." Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
A searing, heartbreaking metaphor for the futility of war. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Like this diabolically designed weapon of war, Tanovic's film is coil-sprung to explode on the unsuspecting. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
It's a merciless and mirthlessly funny antiwar weapon from a filmmaker who has seen battle firsthand and has lived to make art from memories of hell. Read full review
80
Film ThreatMichael Dequina
While the audience has its laughs along the way, the violent tension of war often threatens to erupt, and slowly, subtly gathering force is the film's emotional weight, which is potently felt by the film's indelible (if not exactly unexpected) concluding image. Read full review
80
VarietyDeborah Young
As a tyro auteur, Tanovich has a heavy-handed way of delineating characters and situations that makes this well-meaning film awfully familiar at times. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Ends on a cruel, cynical note that would surely make Billy Wilder snort with approval. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Some of the film's points are made a bit too heavily, but the subject is as timely as it is timeless, and many of the performances strike a pitch-perfect balance between parody and passion. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Writer-director Danis Tanovic, a Bosnian who spent years documenting his homeland's turmoil, makes a bold feature-film debut with this funny, sobering message movie. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeJay Carr
From beginning to end, it bristles with ironies in classic Eastern European absurdist style.
75
USA TodayMike Clark
Land has a lot of funny moments, which are no less serious for being so, especially when the script turns politically prickly. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen Holden
One of the movie's dark running jokes is that everyone seems to speak a different language and has trouble communicating. The continual struggle of people to make themselves understood becomes a metaphor for the war itself. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderPatrick Z. McGavin
while the war-as-insanity metaphor clearly fits the cruel, heartbreaking story, its force is undercut by a succession of character types -- ambitious television journalists, outmatched UN peacekeepers, overbearing politicians. Read full review
70
Washington PostStephen Hunter
You want a happy ending? You want sunshine, sentimentality, a sense of justice and honor and duty? Me too. But you won't find it here. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
A mordant battlefield allegory with an absurdist edge. Read full review
67
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Undeniably riveting. Read full review
60
Washington PostDesson Thomson
A well-mounted, macabre seriocomedy with passing punchlines. And for about half the movie, it's compelling stuff. Read full review
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