No Man's Land Analysis

Revillas, Glenn D. July 15, 2014

INTGLOS A62

No Man’s Land

What is absurd in the war show in No Man’s Land is that Ciki and Nino do not have even personal grudges against each other and yet they were ordered to kill each other by their own sides. Several wars are also absurd in this way. People are trained and ordered to serve under their country’s ideologies even if some of them do not even believe these ideologies. There are several factors that were shown in several scenes in the movie that could affect the outcome of the war, which just shows that war is really sensitive; another reason why war is absurd.

The first factor is weapon. A clear example of this was shown when Ciki first pointed his gun at Nino and asked who started the war. Nino, desperate at surviving, even said that his side started the war, even if he believed otherwise before the gun was pointed at him. Weapons play a great role in wars and it could easily change someone’s decision or mindset; a piece of metal and plastic has the power to change the course of international relations, just by pointing it at someone that you do not even know or have personal grudges on.

The second one is the media. It was shown when Jane Livingston arrived at the scene. Her desire to report what was happening during the war was palpable. The UNPROFOR, who was planning to be neutral until the end of the war was pressured by the media. Of course they would not want to look like they were doing nothing, completely contradicting their purpose and objectives, so they gave in to the pressure of the media and made efforts to save those trapped in the trenches. It was absurd in a way that the media, who could greatly influence what people think, is still needed just for an international organization to do exert efforts to stop a war. The international organization could have just acted without media. Sergeant Marchand’s actions were commendable, since he did what he believed was right, rather...