Behind Enemy Lines (film)
Encyclopedia
Behind Enemy Lines is a 2001 action and war film directed by John Moore, and starring Gene Hackman
and Owen Wilson
. The film is centered on the story of an American naval flight officer who was shot down over Bosnia
and ends up uncovering a massacre during the Bosnian conflict
. The plot itself is loosely based on the Mrkonjić Grad incident
that occurred in 1995 amid the war. The film was followed by two direct-to-video
sequels, Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil and Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia
, which was co-produced by WWE Studios.
) and Pilot Lieutenant Jeremy Stackhouse (Gabriel Macht
), who are stationed on an aircraft carrier
in the Adriatic Sea
, are assigned a reconnaissance mission over Bosnia. During the reconnaissance mission, they spot suspicious activity in the demilitarized zone
, in which armed factions are not allowed to engage in military activity; NATO aircraft are also prohibited from entering the area. Burnett persuades Stackhouse to fly their F/A-18 Hornet off-course to get a close look at the target and photograph it. However, both men are unaware that they photographed mass grave
s, and Serbs
in the area spot the jet. The local Bosnian Serb Army commander, General Miroslav Lokar (Olek Krupa
), is conducting a secret genocidal campaign against the local Muslim population
. Not wanting the mass graves to be discovered, Lokar orders the jet to be shot down.
Despite trying to outmaneuver the missile
s shot at them, their aircraft is hit and both men are forced to eject. A short while after touching ground, a Serb patrol under Lokar's command finds Stackhouse and interrogates him. Stackhouse is then executed by Sasha (Vladimir Mashkov
), a tracker
and one of Lokar's right-hand men. Burnett, who was observing the Serbs' interrogation of his comrade from a hill, screams in horror, unintentionally alerting the Serbs to his location. Wanting Burnett dead as well, Lokar orders both Sasha and his second-in-command, Colonel Bazda (Marko Igonda), to find him.
Burnett contacts his commanding officer, Admiral Leslie Reigart (Gene Hackman
), on high ground to inform him of what happened and is ordered to move to a certain location in order to be extracted. However, Admiral Piquet (Joaquim de Almeida
) warns Reigart that the shooting down of Burnett's jet and any attempt to rescue the navigator in the no-fly zone could hamper or even cause the peace process to collapse. Therefore, as Burnett moves to the designated extraction point, Reigart tells him that he must move to a safer location miles away outside of the demilitarized zone in order to be rescued.
Immediately after being informed, Burnett sees a Serb patrol led by Bazda that is looking for him. Burnett runs off as the Serbs continue their search for the downed navigator. As Burnett keeps running, he falls into the very mass graves that he and Stackhouse had photographed and hides under a dead body. As the Serb patrol arrives at the graves, they inspect the area to find Burnett and then withdraw with no success. When the Serbs leave, Burnett continues to run. Reigart, who was watching the moment via thermal
satellite imagery
, decides to report Burnett's situation to the media.
On his way to the new extraction point, Burnett is nearly killed by Serb soldiers in an abandoned factory, but manages to flee the scene after the Serbs are killed by mines. Later on, as Burnett has a near-encounter with Sasha, he encounters Muslim guerrillas aboard a pickup truck
who offer him a ride. The guerrillas inform Burnett that they are heading to Hač, which is located within a safe area, but turns out to be a war zone in which Burnett's Serb pursuers are fighting to take control of the town. During the battle, Serb troops believe that they have found Burnett's body, but Burnett has switched uniforms with a dead Serb soldier and escaped Hač with Babic (Kamil Kollarik).
The Serbians parade the corpse wearing Burnett's uniform, but Sasha immediately notices that it is not Burnett. Although convinced, Lokar has the corpse presented on the news and the media reports the Serb claims that Burnett was killed by Bosniak guerrillas, as Lokar fears that a rescue team tasked with rescuing Burnett may be on its way. Their ruse works and the rescue mission is called off just as Burnett gets a view of the helicopter. Burnett, disappointed, then notices an angel statue that he parachuted down nearby as this is where his ejection seat landed. Burnett, whose radio was destroyed in Hač, wants to return to the site in order to prove to his carrier group that he is still alive as well as to obtain the evidence of Lokar's crimes, which is located on a hard drive attached to the seat. Burnett orders Babic to leave, returns to his ejection seat and reactivates the rescue beacon. Even though the carrier group notices his signal, Burnett also alerts the Serbs to his location.
Although knowing that doing so could have him relieved of command, Reigart prepares a task force aimed at rescuing Burnett. But meanwhile, General Lokar sends both Bazda and Sasha alone to kill Burnett, with Lokar instructing the latter to shoot the downed navigator in the head. On route to Burnett's location, Bazda steps on a landmine, forcing Sasha to leave the helpless soldier to die. Burnett hears the explosion and is alerted.
Sasha takes a position and sees Burnett hiding behind the ejection seat. After hearing approaching American helicopters coming to rescue Burnett, he walks toward the ejection seat, but after getting there, Sasha realizes that he was tricked. Burnett jumps out of a snowdrift behind Sasha and the two men engage in a hand-to-hand fight until Burnett pulls out a flare
and stabs Sasha in the chest with it, killing him. Immediately after Sasha is killed, Lokar arrives with armored personnel carriers and infantry who begin to fire upon Burnett as he runs to the nearby angel statue. UH-1 Huey helicopters of the United States Marine Corps
led by Reigart finally arrive and fire on the Serbs. After running back to the ejection chair to retrieve the hard drive containing the photos of the mass graves, Burnett runs back to the helicopter and gets in. The task force successfully withdraws back to the aircraft carrier, where Burnett receives warm applause from the carrier's crew members on the flight deck
after getting off the helicopter.
The conclusion of the movie reveals that the evidence of Lokar's war crimes put him on trial. Reigart is relieved from command for his actions and is offered a desk job in Washington, D.C.
, but chooses to retire with the respect of his sailors for the sacrifice he made to recover the downed pilot. Burnett, who earlier in the film wanted to resign from active duty, decides to remain in the Navy.
, not Bosnia. During the shooting of the movie, it was the first time in 104 years that Slovakia had not received snow, so special effects were used to create snow for the movie.
None of the actors playing Serbians were actually Serbians; the producers said that they hired Croats
to instruct the actors in Serbian
, because they could not find any Serbs willing to work on the film, due to hints of anti-Serb sentiment shown in some parts of the film. Vladimir Mashkov
, the actor who played the Serbian sniper, Sasha, is Russian and Olek Krupa
, the actor who played the Serbian General, Miroslav Lokar, is Polish. Some Slovaks also participated in the film, such as Marko Igonda, who plays Colonel Bazda, and Kamil Kollarik, who plays Babic, the young Muslim militant who aids Burnett in Hač.
The USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)
was the aircraft carrier featured in the film. Exterior naval footage was filmed on board the carrier. Interiors were filmed on the Carl Vinson, and on the USS Constellation (CV-64)
, as well as on-set.
During the scene in Hač, director John Moore was nearly killed as a tank crashed through a wall as he was directing the scene. However, a stuntman pulled him out of the way just before the tank might have hit him.
During the mass grave scene, footage was borrowed from the movie Savior
, which also focused on the war in Bosnia. The footage used was intended to show flashbacks of Serb soldiers killing civilians, but the footage used was actually a scene from Savior in which Bosnian Croat soldiers
carried out a massacre of both Serbs and Muslims.
Captain Scott O'Grady
, who was shot down
on 2 June 1995 over Bosnia
. He managed to survive for six days before being rescued. He reportedly filed suit against the producers of this film for defamation of character, as well as making a film about his ordeal without his permission. The characters and events the film portrays are, however, almost entirely fictional. O'Grady never entered populated areas, nor did he interact with civilians. Also, O'Grady never flew an F/A-18F (which was not in service in 1995) but rather an F-16 Fighting Falcon
. The film itself is also loosely based on the events of the Bosnian War
(1992–1995), and the various genocides and war crimes that took place
during the war that prompted NATO to intervene in the Bosnian conflict. The Cincinnati Accords, which in the film is the agreement that ended the Bosnian war, is based on the Dayton Agreement
that was signed by the opposing factions in the war after the intervention of NATO forces, as well as the simultaneous Croatian offensive against Serbs in its own territory
and in Bosnia
that forced the Serbs to enter a fifth round of negotiations
, which then resulted in the signing of the Dayton Agreement.
Both Burnett and Stackhouse were in fact shot down in the Srebrenica
region, the easternmost part of Bosnia, although in the film it is claimed they were shot down over southern Bosnia, despite a scene in the film showing the location of the plane crash was in eastern Bosnia. Of all atrocities that occurred in the Bosnian War, the Srebrenica massacre
in July 1995 was the most notorious as an estimated 8000 Bosniak males were killed by Bosnian Serb troops that overran the town.
based on reviews from 129 critics, deeming it 'Rotten'.
Gene Hackman
Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
and Owen Wilson
Owen Wilson
Owen Cunningham Wilson is an American actor and writer, known for his roles in the films The Haunting, The Royal Tenenbaums, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, Bottle Rocket, the Cars series, The Darjeeling Limited, Marley & Me, Midnight in Paris, Shanghai Noon,...
. The film is centered on the story of an American naval flight officer who was shot down over Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
and ends up uncovering a massacre during the Bosnian conflict
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
. The plot itself is loosely based on the Mrkonjić Grad incident
Mrkonjic Grad incident
The Mrkonjić Grad incident was the shooting down of a United States Air Force F-16C by a Bosnian Serb Army SA-6 surface-to-air missile near Mrkonjić Grad, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on June 2, 1995...
that occurred in 1995 amid the war. The film was followed by two direct-to-video
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
sequels, Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil and Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia
Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia
Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia is a 2009 war film directed by Tim Matheson and starring Joe Manganiello and former WWE and current TNA wrestler Ken Anderson. It is the third installment in the series, as well as the sequel to Behind Enemy Lines, and Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil...
, which was co-produced by WWE Studios.
Plot
In the final stages of a NATO peacekeeping mission in Bosnia in December 1995, US Navy Flight Navigator Lieutenant Chris Burnett (Owen WilsonOwen Wilson
Owen Cunningham Wilson is an American actor and writer, known for his roles in the films The Haunting, The Royal Tenenbaums, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, Bottle Rocket, the Cars series, The Darjeeling Limited, Marley & Me, Midnight in Paris, Shanghai Noon,...
) and Pilot Lieutenant Jeremy Stackhouse (Gabriel Macht
Gabriel Macht
Gabriel S. Macht is an American actor. Macht is known for playing The Spirit in the film of the same name, and lately for his role as Harvey Specter on the USA Network series Suits.-Personal life:...
), who are stationed on an aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
in the Adriatic Sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
, are assigned a reconnaissance mission over Bosnia. During the reconnaissance mission, they spot suspicious activity in the demilitarized zone
Demilitarized zone
In military terms, a demilitarized zone is an area, usually the frontier or boundary between two or more military powers , where military activity is not permitted, usually by peace treaty, armistice, or other bilateral or multilateral agreement...
, in which armed factions are not allowed to engage in military activity; NATO aircraft are also prohibited from entering the area. Burnett persuades Stackhouse to fly their F/A-18 Hornet off-course to get a close look at the target and photograph it. However, both men are unaware that they photographed mass grave
Mass grave
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple number of human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. There is no strict definition of the minimum number of bodies required to constitute a mass grave, although the United Nations defines a mass grave as a burial site which...
s, and Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
in the area spot the jet. The local Bosnian Serb Army commander, General Miroslav Lokar (Olek Krupa
Olek Krupa
Aleksander Krupa , often credited as Olek Krupa, is a Polish actor best known for playing villains and/or criminals, such as in Blue Streak and Home Alone 3...
), is conducting a secret genocidal campaign against the local Muslim population
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
. Not wanting the mass graves to be discovered, Lokar orders the jet to be shot down.
Despite trying to outmaneuver the missile
Surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile or ground-to-air missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles...
s shot at them, their aircraft is hit and both men are forced to eject. A short while after touching ground, a Serb patrol under Lokar's command finds Stackhouse and interrogates him. Stackhouse is then executed by Sasha (Vladimir Mashkov
Vladimir Mashkov
Vladimir Lvovich Mashkov is a Russian actor best known to Western audiences for his work in the 2001 film Behind Enemy Lines. Mashkov has also worked as a film director, producer and writer for the 2004 Russian film "Papa".-Theatre work:...
), a tracker
Tracking (hunting)
Tracking in hunting and ecology is the science and art of observing animal tracks and other signs, with the goal of gaining understanding of the landscape and the animal being tracked...
and one of Lokar's right-hand men. Burnett, who was observing the Serbs' interrogation of his comrade from a hill, screams in horror, unintentionally alerting the Serbs to his location. Wanting Burnett dead as well, Lokar orders both Sasha and his second-in-command, Colonel Bazda (Marko Igonda), to find him.
Burnett contacts his commanding officer, Admiral Leslie Reigart (Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman
Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
), on high ground to inform him of what happened and is ordered to move to a certain location in order to be extracted. However, Admiral Piquet (Joaquim de Almeida
Joaquim de Almeida
Joaquim António Portugal Baptista de Almeida is a Portuguese-born American actor. He began his acting doing some theater. During the 1980s, he started his film career appearing on the 1982 action film The Soldier, and later achieved recognition for playing Andrea Bonanno in the 1987 Italian film...
) warns Reigart that the shooting down of Burnett's jet and any attempt to rescue the navigator in the no-fly zone could hamper or even cause the peace process to collapse. Therefore, as Burnett moves to the designated extraction point, Reigart tells him that he must move to a safer location miles away outside of the demilitarized zone in order to be rescued.
Immediately after being informed, Burnett sees a Serb patrol led by Bazda that is looking for him. Burnett runs off as the Serbs continue their search for the downed navigator. As Burnett keeps running, he falls into the very mass graves that he and Stackhouse had photographed and hides under a dead body. As the Serb patrol arrives at the graves, they inspect the area to find Burnett and then withdraw with no success. When the Serbs leave, Burnett continues to run. Reigart, who was watching the moment via thermal
Thermography
Infrared thermography, thermal imaging, and thermal video are examples of infrared imaging science. Thermal imaging cameras detect radiation in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum and produce images of that radiation, called thermograms...
satellite imagery
Satellite imagery
Satellite imagery consists of photographs of Earth or other planets made by means of artificial satellites.- History :The first images from space were taken on sub-orbital flights. The U.S-launched V-2 flight on October 24, 1946 took one image every 1.5 seconds...
, decides to report Burnett's situation to the media.
On his way to the new extraction point, Burnett is nearly killed by Serb soldiers in an abandoned factory, but manages to flee the scene after the Serbs are killed by mines. Later on, as Burnett has a near-encounter with Sasha, he encounters Muslim guerrillas aboard a pickup truck
Pickup truck
A pickup truck is a light motor vehicle with an open-top rear cargo area .-Definition:...
who offer him a ride. The guerrillas inform Burnett that they are heading to Hač, which is located within a safe area, but turns out to be a war zone in which Burnett's Serb pursuers are fighting to take control of the town. During the battle, Serb troops believe that they have found Burnett's body, but Burnett has switched uniforms with a dead Serb soldier and escaped Hač with Babic (Kamil Kollarik).
The Serbians parade the corpse wearing Burnett's uniform, but Sasha immediately notices that it is not Burnett. Although convinced, Lokar has the corpse presented on the news and the media reports the Serb claims that Burnett was killed by Bosniak guerrillas, as Lokar fears that a rescue team tasked with rescuing Burnett may be on its way. Their ruse works and the rescue mission is called off just as Burnett gets a view of the helicopter. Burnett, disappointed, then notices an angel statue that he parachuted down nearby as this is where his ejection seat landed. Burnett, whose radio was destroyed in Hač, wants to return to the site in order to prove to his carrier group that he is still alive as well as to obtain the evidence of Lokar's crimes, which is located on a hard drive attached to the seat. Burnett orders Babic to leave, returns to his ejection seat and reactivates the rescue beacon. Even though the carrier group notices his signal, Burnett also alerts the Serbs to his location.
Although knowing that doing so could have him relieved of command, Reigart prepares a task force aimed at rescuing Burnett. But meanwhile, General Lokar sends both Bazda and Sasha alone to kill Burnett, with Lokar instructing the latter to shoot the downed navigator in the head. On route to Burnett's location, Bazda steps on a landmine, forcing Sasha to leave the helpless soldier to die. Burnett hears the explosion and is alerted.
Sasha takes a position and sees Burnett hiding behind the ejection seat. After hearing approaching American helicopters coming to rescue Burnett, he walks toward the ejection seat, but after getting there, Sasha realizes that he was tricked. Burnett jumps out of a snowdrift behind Sasha and the two men engage in a hand-to-hand fight until Burnett pulls out a flare
Flare (pyrotechnic)
A flare, also sometimes called a fusee, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a brilliant light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for signalling, illumination, or defensive countermeasures in civilian and military applications...
and stabs Sasha in the chest with it, killing him. Immediately after Sasha is killed, Lokar arrives with armored personnel carriers and infantry who begin to fire upon Burnett as he runs to the nearby angel statue. UH-1 Huey helicopters of the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
led by Reigart finally arrive and fire on the Serbs. After running back to the ejection chair to retrieve the hard drive containing the photos of the mass graves, Burnett runs back to the helicopter and gets in. The task force successfully withdraws back to the aircraft carrier, where Burnett receives warm applause from the carrier's crew members on the flight deck
Flight deck
The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters and other VTOL aircraft is also referred to as the...
after getting off the helicopter.
The conclusion of the movie reveals that the evidence of Lokar's war crimes put him on trial. Reigart is relieved from command for his actions and is offered a desk job in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, but chooses to retire with the respect of his sailors for the sacrifice he made to recover the downed pilot. Burnett, who earlier in the film wanted to resign from active duty, decides to remain in the Navy.
Cast
- Owen WilsonOwen WilsonOwen Cunningham Wilson is an American actor and writer, known for his roles in the films The Haunting, The Royal Tenenbaums, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, Bottle Rocket, the Cars series, The Darjeeling Limited, Marley & Me, Midnight in Paris, Shanghai Noon,...
as Naval Flight Officer Lieutenant Chris Burnett, Callsign "Longhorn" - Gene HackmanGene HackmanEugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
as Rear Admiral Leslie McMahon Reigart, USN - Gabriel MachtGabriel MachtGabriel S. Macht is an American actor. Macht is known for playing The Spirit in the film of the same name, and lately for his role as Harvey Specter on the USA Network series Suits.-Personal life:...
as Naval Aviator Lieutenant Jeremy Stackhouse, Callsign "Smoke" - Charles Malik WhitfieldCharles Malik WhitfieldCharles Malik Whitfield is an American actor from Bronx, New York. He is best known for his role as Otis Williams in 1998 miniseries The Temptations. He also appeared in 33 episodes of The Guardian as character James Mooney. He has appeared in dozens of other television series as well as a handful...
as Captain Rodway, USMC - David KeithDavid KeithDavid Lemuel Keith is an American actor and director. He received Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor and New Star of the Year – Actor for his performance in An Officer and a Gentleman.-Career:...
as Master Chief Tom O'Malley, USN - Olek KrupaOlek KrupaAleksander Krupa , often credited as Olek Krupa, is a Polish actor best known for playing villains and/or criminals, such as in Blue Streak and Home Alone 3...
as General Miroslav Lokar - Joaquim de AlmeidaJoaquim de AlmeidaJoaquim António Portugal Baptista de Almeida is a Portuguese-born American actor. He began his acting doing some theater. During the 1980s, he started his film career appearing on the 1982 action film The Soldier, and later achieved recognition for playing Andrea Bonanno in the 1987 Italian film...
as Admiral Juan Miguel Piquet - Vladimir MashkovVladimir MashkovVladimir Lvovich Mashkov is a Russian actor best known to Western audiences for his work in the 2001 film Behind Enemy Lines. Mashkov has also worked as a film director, producer and writer for the 2004 Russian film "Papa".-Theatre work:...
as Sasha - Marko Igonda as Colonel Viktor Bazda
- Eyal PodellEyal PodellEyal Podell is an Israeli-born American actor who is known for his portrayal of Professor Adrian Korbel on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. Podell recently played the role of Dr...
as Petty OfficerPetty OfficerA petty officer is a non-commissioned officer in many navies and is given the NATO rank denotion OR-6. They are equal in rank to sergeant, British Army and Royal Air Force. A Petty Officer is superior in rank to Leading Rate and subordinate to Chief Petty Officer, in the case of the British Armed...
Kennedy - Geoffrey PiersonGeoff PiersonGeoff Pierson is an American actor known for his role on The WB series Unhappily Ever After as Jack Malloy, the father of a dysfunctional family whose best friend is a stuffed animal rabbit named Mr. Floppy...
as Admiral Donnelly - Aernout Van LyndenAernout van LyndenAernout van Lynden Carel Baron van Lynden, Aernout Diederic is a Dutch-British journalist with over twenty years experience as a war correspondent in the Middle East and the Balkans .-Career:...
as Himself
Production
The film was shot in SlovakiaSlovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, not Bosnia. During the shooting of the movie, it was the first time in 104 years that Slovakia had not received snow, so special effects were used to create snow for the movie.
None of the actors playing Serbians were actually Serbians; the producers said that they hired Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
to instruct the actors in Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
, because they could not find any Serbs willing to work on the film, due to hints of anti-Serb sentiment shown in some parts of the film. Vladimir Mashkov
Vladimir Mashkov
Vladimir Lvovich Mashkov is a Russian actor best known to Western audiences for his work in the 2001 film Behind Enemy Lines. Mashkov has also worked as a film director, producer and writer for the 2004 Russian film "Papa".-Theatre work:...
, the actor who played the Serbian sniper, Sasha, is Russian and Olek Krupa
Olek Krupa
Aleksander Krupa , often credited as Olek Krupa, is a Polish actor best known for playing villains and/or criminals, such as in Blue Streak and Home Alone 3...
, the actor who played the Serbian General, Miroslav Lokar, is Polish. Some Slovaks also participated in the film, such as Marko Igonda, who plays Colonel Bazda, and Kamil Kollarik, who plays Babic, the young Muslim militant who aids Burnett in Hač.
The USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)
USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)
The USS Carl Vinson is the third United States Navy Nimitz class supercarrier and is named after Carl Vinson, a Congressman from Georgia. Carl Vinson's callsign is "Gold Eagle". It played host to the first NCAA basketball game on an aircraft carrier on 11/11/11 between the University of North...
was the aircraft carrier featured in the film. Exterior naval footage was filmed on board the carrier. Interiors were filmed on the Carl Vinson, and on the USS Constellation (CV-64)
USS Constellation (CV-64)
USS Constellation , a Kitty Hawk-class supercarrier, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the "new constellation of stars" on the flag of the United States and the only naval vessel ever authorized to display red, white, and blue designation numbers...
, as well as on-set.
During the scene in Hač, director John Moore was nearly killed as a tank crashed through a wall as he was directing the scene. However, a stuntman pulled him out of the way just before the tank might have hit him.
During the mass grave scene, footage was borrowed from the movie Savior
Savior (film)
Savior is a 1998 war film starring Dennis Quaid, Stellan Skarsgård, Nastassja Kinski, and Nataša Ninković. It is about an American mercenary escorting a Serbian woman and her newborn child to a United Nations safe zone during the Bosnian War and Bosnian Genocide.- Plot :Joshua Rose , a State...
, which also focused on the war in Bosnia. The footage used was intended to show flashbacks of Serb soldiers killing civilians, but the footage used was actually a scene from Savior in which Bosnian Croat soldiers
Croatian Defence Council
The Croatian Defence Council was a military formation of the self-proclaimed Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia during the Bosnian War.-History:...
carried out a massacre of both Serbs and Muslims.
Historical inspiration
The film bears some resemblance to the experiences of former USAFUnited States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
Captain Scott O'Grady
Scott O'Grady
Scott Francis O'Grady is a former USAF Captain and former United States Air Force fighter pilot who gained prominence after the June 2, 1995 Mrkonjić Grad incident, in which he ejected over Bosnia when his F-16C was shot down by a Bosnian Serb SA-6 while he was patrolling the no-fly zone...
, who was shot down
Mrkonjic Grad incident
The Mrkonjić Grad incident was the shooting down of a United States Air Force F-16C by a Bosnian Serb Army SA-6 surface-to-air missile near Mrkonjić Grad, Bosnia and Herzegovina, on June 2, 1995...
on 2 June 1995 over Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
. He managed to survive for six days before being rescued. He reportedly filed suit against the producers of this film for defamation of character, as well as making a film about his ordeal without his permission. The characters and events the film portrays are, however, almost entirely fictional. O'Grady never entered populated areas, nor did he interact with civilians. Also, O'Grady never flew an F/A-18F (which was not in service in 1995) but rather an F-16 Fighting Falcon
F-16 Fighting Falcon
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force . Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,400 aircraft have been built since...
. The film itself is also loosely based on the events of the Bosnian War
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
(1992–1995), and the various genocides and war crimes that took place
Bosnian Genocide
The term Bosnian Genocide refers to either the genocide committed by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica in 1995 or the ethnic cleansing campaign that took place throughout areas controlled by the Bosnian Serb Army during the 1992–1995 Bosnian War....
during the war that prompted NATO to intervene in the Bosnian conflict. The Cincinnati Accords, which in the film is the agreement that ended the Bosnian war, is based on the Dayton Agreement
Dayton Agreement
The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement, Dayton Accords, Paris Protocol or Dayton-Paris Agreement, is the peace agreement reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio in November 1995, and formally signed in Paris on...
that was signed by the opposing factions in the war after the intervention of NATO forces, as well as the simultaneous Croatian offensive against Serbs in its own territory
Operation Storm
Operation Storm is the code name given to a large-scale military operation carried out by Croatian Armed Forces, in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to gain back control of parts of Croatia which had been claimed by separatist ethnic Serbs, since early...
and in Bosnia
Operation Mistral
Operation Mistral were two linked military offensives of the Croatian Army, Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Croatian Defence Council launched in Western Bosnia and Herzegovina during September 1995 as part of the Croatian War of Independence and the Bosnian War...
that forced the Serbs to enter a fifth round of negotiations
Peace plans offered before and during the Bosnian War
Four major peace plans were offered before and during the Bosnian-Herzegovina War, commonly known as the Bosnian War, by European Community and United Nations diplomats before the conflict was settled by the Dayton Agreement in 1995....
, which then resulted in the signing of the Dayton Agreement.
Both Burnett and Stackhouse were in fact shot down in the Srebrenica
Srebrenica
Srebrenica is a town and municipality in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska. Srebrenica is a small mountain town, its main industry being salt mining and a nearby spa. During the Bosnian War, the town was the site of the July 1995 massacre,...
region, the easternmost part of Bosnia, although in the film it is claimed they were shot down over southern Bosnia, despite a scene in the film showing the location of the plane crash was in eastern Bosnia. Of all atrocities that occurred in the Bosnian War, the Srebrenica massacre
Srebrenica massacre
The Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide, refers to the July 1995 killing, during the Bosnian War, of more than 8,000 Bosniaks , mainly men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska under the command of...
in July 1995 was the most notorious as an estimated 8000 Bosniak males were killed by Bosnian Serb troops that overran the town.
Reception
The film made $18.7 million in its opening week in the U.S., landing at the #2 spot, held off the top spot by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Behind Enemy Lines eventually grossed $92 million worldwide, of which $59 million was from North America. The budget was estimated to be $40 million. The film scored 37% on film aggregate site Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
based on reviews from 129 critics, deeming it 'Rotten'.
See also
- Peter MarklePeter MarklePeter Markle is an American TV and film director. He has worked on Everwood, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and The X-Files as well as many other programs. He was director of the successful "Flight 93" in 2006 and he also directed the poorly-received comedy western film Wagons East!...
's 1988 film "Bat*21" similarly tells the story of the rescue of a downed navigator. Both films feature Gene HackmanGene HackmanEugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
.