"Disturbing" and "gut-wrenching" are frequent adjectives used to describe SAVIOR. I agree without hesitation, but it's important to remember that, particularly in its conclusion, SAVIOR is also both heart-warming and gratifying. I have seen very few films that juxtapose these various qualities so well.
This is one of Quaid's finest performances as Joshua "Guy" Rose, a former U.S. Army officer who joins the Bosnian Serb Army for the simple reason that they are fighting against Moslems, a religion that, for reasons the film reveals, he's come to hate. He soon finds himself the unwitting "savior" of Vera, a Serbian woman played with utter conviction by Natasa Ninkovic, and her child conceived through rape by former Bosnian captors. The symbolism of the half-Serb, half-Bosnian child shines through very well. Settings are also worthy of note: The Bosnian sequences were filmed right next door in Montenegro, and the whole sense-of-place adds as much immediate realism to this film as the superb acting.
There are some rather heated debates on IMDb's Discussion Board regarding what SAVIOR supposedly says about the war in Bosnia and how it portrays Serbs, Croats, and Moslems. Obviously, way too much has been read into the fact that the director is Serbian-born. Certain events and portrayals will inevitably upset citizens of the former Yugoslav republics who were victimized during the wars in the 1990s. However, the basic focus of this film is as nonpartisan as it can possibly be. If anything, SAVIOR overdoes the point that Bosnian Serbs, Croats, and Moslems all committed acts of both horrific cruelty and extreme compassion. In the words of one character, "I am Croat, my wife, Serb. Before the war, no difference. Now, stupid!"
This is one of Quaid's finest performances as Joshua "Guy" Rose, a former U.S. Army officer who joins the Bosnian Serb Army for the simple reason that they are fighting against Moslems, a religion that, for reasons the film reveals, he's come to hate. He soon finds himself the unwitting "savior" of Vera, a Serbian woman played with utter conviction by Natasa Ninkovic, and her child conceived through rape by former Bosnian captors. The symbolism of the half-Serb, half-Bosnian child shines through very well. Settings are also worthy of note: The Bosnian sequences were filmed right next door in Montenegro, and the whole sense-of-place adds as much immediate realism to this film as the superb acting.
There are some rather heated debates on IMDb's Discussion Board regarding what SAVIOR supposedly says about the war in Bosnia and how it portrays Serbs, Croats, and Moslems. Obviously, way too much has been read into the fact that the director is Serbian-born. Certain events and portrayals will inevitably upset citizens of the former Yugoslav republics who were victimized during the wars in the 1990s. However, the basic focus of this film is as nonpartisan as it can possibly be. If anything, SAVIOR overdoes the point that Bosnian Serbs, Croats, and Moslems all committed acts of both horrific cruelty and extreme compassion. In the words of one character, "I am Croat, my wife, Serb. Before the war, no difference. Now, stupid!"