If the conflict in Bosnia has become something of a forgotten war, it's not for the want of trying from the immensely powerful BBC film Warriors, the story of five young soldiers and their harrowing experiences in the region. Opening with an extended view of the five's home lives--all are on leave when called up to form part of the UN peacekeeping mission--Peter Kosminksy invites the viewer to experience the war at a strictly personal level. And while this leaves little scope for any general political overview of events (aside from the horror of war) this is a piece of drama and not a documentary. Once transported to Bosnia, the protagonists find that their role as peacekeepers leaves them largely sidelined and unable to intervene and save lives, often forced to stand by and watch mass slaughter. Not since M*A*S*H have the absurdities of "the rules of engagement" been so eloquently examined. It is the darkening spiral that the five are sent on by these events and the relationships they form throughout them that forms the crux of the film, never demonstrated more clearly than by the return to the friends and families who see them as heroes. Bloody and sickening in parts, Warriors is given extra poignancy by the fact that it is based on the real-life testimony of British soldiers. A million miles away from the Rambos of this world this is the war film coming of age. --Phil Udell
A drama based on the events of the British in Bosnia, told through the eyes of a group of young soldiers from the Cheshire Regiment.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Brilliant film
Comment: I just loved this film.. I have been to Bosnia several times and have friends there and they also enjoyed Warriors.. Maybe at times it can be stereotypical regarding the muslims and the Serbs, but the acting is great and the storylines are good.. Well worth watching!!

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Come on BBC a UK release please!
Comment: It seems that the BBC are not going to release this as a UK version on DVD. That is a shame as it is one of the best TV dramas of the last few years, equally as good Kosminsky's other works (Goverment Inspector etc.). Come on the Beeb sort it out!

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Warriors [1999] [Dutch Import]
Comment: Having watched this drama on BBC when it was first broadcast so I was more than pleased when I found it on DVD. The big downside is that it is void of at least two scenes right in the middle which as a result can make it look a little disjointed, especially if you have never seen it before. Had this not been the case then I would have awarded it the full five stars. I hope that the full version is released in due course as it is an excellent well acted realistic drama, based on real life events.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Intense and moving drama about the war in Bosnia
Comment: Why this has not been released in the UK yet on DVD is a mystery to me. I have just a recording and this review is about the drama not the Dutch DVD. It is about one regiment (?) of British soldiers and their tour of duty in Bosnia as peacekeepers from beginning to end. There are three main characters whose lives back home we are shown before they leave and then return, affected by their experiences. Ioan Gruffydd (Hornblower) and Damien Lewis (Band of Brothers) are cast as two officers and Matthew Macfadyen (Spooks) as either a private or N.C.O. They witness a number of the most notorious incidents that occured. We see their frustration as they are not even allowed to move some civilians to safety as it would seem they are contributing to ethnic cleansing. I believe this was shown on BBC. It is a well acted, authentic looking drama. I hope it gets released over here.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Flashback time!
Comment: I was "lucky enough" to serve as a volunteer in Bosnia during and after the war,from april 1995 till june 1996 as a UN/ NATO peacekeeper.(All Norwegians and Swedes were volunteers). The story being told in the film was so real to me, that when I saw it in 2003 I had flashbacks for the first, and hopefully last, time since my time in Bosnia. I could feel the humidity and feel the taste of the air in central Bosnia. To me this film shows a realistic image of what happened in Bosnia. Just don't forget that there were saints and sinners on all sides in the conflict!!

---