Bosnia Nights (Film)

Bosnia Nights is a comedy war 2013 film. It follows a Serb squad of ten men led by Lieutenant Milan Nikolić during the Bosnian Civil War. Other than Stratos Tzortzoglou who plays a Greek solider, Ljubiša Samardžić who plays a Bosnian Serb officer and Kole Angelovski who plays Ratko Mladić none of the actors have had a distinguished cinema history, a number of them starring in their first film.

Plot
The film opens with the words "This film is dedicated to a country that unfortunately doesn't exist anymore..." then shows real life footage of Marshal Tito in the early 70's speaking about the opening if refugee camps for Greeks who are fleeing the ongoing violence in their country at the time.

The film then fast forwards to the mid 90's General Mladić (played by Macedonian actor Kole Angelovski) inspecting troops in a military camp. The camera then sets on Milan who is standing next to other lieutenants and captains. Milan then remembers playing soccer as a teenager in his home town's park. Then 10 years later it shows Milan running in the same position but this time from rocket fire (which is later revealed to be friendly fire from the Bosnian Serb Army). Milan and his squad rest at a graveyard. The squad consists of Milan's lifelong friend a half Croat man named Boris but also includes Valter who is a half Chinese man from Sarajevo, Draza who is a Chetnik and McCourt who is a stoner and a 1970's throwback rebel among others.

The film revolves around the squad deserting their posts and heading towards Greece where Milan's wife and two children have fled to. The film also centers around the hardships of the Bosnian people during the war including racism and ethnic cleansing. The film features black comedy to lighten the mood in an attempt to make it seem less grim. Another large feature of the film is Yugonostalgia, the film also mentions the topics of Titoism and Serb Nationalism.

Trivia

 * Tito's speech at the beginning of the film is a reference about the soldiers heading towards a Serb refugee camp in Greece however in the 70's the camps were for Greeks fleeing to Yugoslavia.
 * The film makes references to Yugoslavian films such as the Battle of Neretva, Kelly's Heroes, Walter Defends Sarajevo and Sutjeska it also makes a homage to the British film Bridge on the River Kwai.
 * Some of these references include; Ljubiša Samardžić's character's name is Col. Daniljo Novak (Battle of Neretva and Sutjeska), going AWOL for personal gains (Kelly's Heroes) and the first name of SSgt. Zhang (Walter Defends Sarajevo).