Set in the titular city at the height of the Bosnian-Serbian conflict, Michael Winterbottom's compelling docu-drama, adapted by Frank Cottrell Boyce from Michael Nicholson's novel, focuses on a seasoned Brit TV journalist who falls into the maw of a moral and ethical dilemma when he resolves to smuggle a young orphan out the war-torn country to join his family in the UK. Eschewing displays of "war is hell" excesses, Winterbottom's incidental, often verite itinerary of battle-scarred streets and buildings where sudden death is only a sniper's bullet away, bristles with an urgency reminiscent of last year's similarly-themed Pretty Village, Pretty Flame and Prisoner of the Mountain. Apart from Stephen Dillane's focused, low-key performance, Woody Harrelson, Kerry Fox and Goran Visnjic register solid ensemble work.
