A response to the opening sequences of welcome to sarajevo - page 1
Keywords: media, welcome to sarajevo
By Alec on 30/09/2008
Level: GCSE Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11)
Page Number: 1 of 3 pages: 1 2 3
Michael Winterbottom hoped that the film “Welcome to Sarajevo” “would bring Sarajevo to the attention of people there’s a war happening in the middle of Europe, we’re watching it on television, you can see it every day, and yet we are not doing anything about it.” This shows that Winterbottom did not just want to write a film for entertainment and earning money. He wanted to write one to convey the message that Bosnia needed help and attention. The Bosnians wanted their independence so they held a referendum. The Bosnians won so they started.
The Bosnian war started on the 6th April 1992 to 14th December 1995 102,000 people were killed, 1,800,000 people were forced to move homes and between 8,000 and 20,000 women were raped, these are huge figures and it is why Michael Winterbottom wanted to show the world this terror was happening and ask why noone was helping.
In 1992, ITN reporter Michael Henderson (Stephen Dillane) comes to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia or, in the words of the correspondents, "the 14th worst place on earth." Their work makes them see the suffering of the people of Sarajevo. But none of their stories will make the ‘top’ story as there is always something going on in England such as the divorce of the Duke and Duchess of York. The situation changes when Henderson makes a report from an orphanage where two hundred children live in a very bad conditions. With the help of American aid worker Nina (Marisa Tomei), Henderson tries to get the children to England where they will be safe. At first, the getaway is threatened with failure when the bus with the children is stopped by Serbian pillagers and most of the children were taken away.(As they were thought to be Muslim as they had -ich on the end of their name) However, in the end, Henderson manages to get the Bosnian girl Emira (Emira Nušević) out of the country and adopts her back in England.
I have decided to analyse and evaluate the opening sequences of the film “Welcome to Sarajevo” because I think that the cinematic devices that Winterbottom uses are crucial to giving the film a good start. The opening scenes last about one and a half minutes and Winterbottom uses a huge array of different footage; real and old footage to make the film look authentic. For Example the real ITN footage of the
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