Synopsis:
Based on an article by John Falk (published in Details magazine, 1995), HBO's
dramatic true story set in Sarajevo concerns the friendship between Vlado Sarzinsky
(Roache) and Slavko Simic (Perez). They had been best friends and teammates on a
professional Yugoslavian shooting team. Their relationship takes a tragic turn during the
war in Sarajevo when Vlado, a Croat married to a Muslim, learns that the enemy sniper he
is hunting is none other than Slavko, the Serbian friend he has known since childhood. To
help protect the people and city he loves, Vlado must now hunt down the man he once
considered a brother. Using the besieged Bosnian capital as its backdrop, Shot Through
the Heart puts a human face on an ethnic civil war.
*****
Boston Globe:
"It's a story about intimacy and civility under fire, an account of the destruction
of friendship, the fragmentation of families, the breakdown of years of urban amity. It is
a piercingly sad story, tightly focused on its principal characters, simply told, and
beautifully acted...Why a man like Slavko becomes an accomplice in such slaughter, and why
he accepts an evicted, probably murdered, Muslim family's suburban house as a reward for
his triggerwork is a mystery Shot Though the Heart can't solve. It just presents
the contradictions, Slavko's warmth and loyalty along with his hatred and will to kill,
and fuses them in Vincent Perez's appealingly loose, chillingly credible
performance."
Newsweek:
"The grim street scenes, filmed in Budapest and Sarajevo itself, have a chilling
documentary quality... Perez plays the freewheeling Slavko with dark
charm as he succumbs to the tribal mentality that started the war, occupying a cozy
suburban house whose owners have been brutally dispossessed."
Washington Post:
"Shot Through the Heart brings the tragic ironies of Sarajevo into gripping
and agonizing focus... None of the actors could be called a household name, but they all
give properly intense performances, especially Roache and Perez, with
Williams very strong as the wife and mother determined that her family survives."
Las Vegas Weekly:
Vincent Perez and Linus Roache are wonderfully believable as the
conflicted friends and are supported by a number of fine performances... Shot
Through the Heart puts a very human face on the tragedy of war."
Los Angeles Times:
"Directed by David Attwood without one false emotion, Shot Through the Heart
has the tone and pacing of a good independent theatrical feature...This one also has in
its favor strong performances by a relatively small-name cast."
San Francisco Chronicle:
"Stark and powerful... Grim but determinedly humanistic... Pats on the back and shiny
medals to HBO. Not only did it make the movie, but it also approved a low-profile cast,
because these actors were right for the parts."
The Hollywood Reporter:
"An absorbing and gut-wrenching tale of friendship destroyed by war's
insanity... There are strong performances throughout."
Dallas Morning News:
"Mr. Perez, who played a tragic Russian immigrant in the
underappreciated Swept From the Sea, has his most effective scenes when the two
friends are briefly reunited."
*****
 "Why would a
very nice guy become a killer? I think it's about savagery. When you see the wars in the
world, you see the people slipping slowly into a savage way to survive. I think that's
part of being human because it happened many times all over the world. What is
extraordinary is how quickly the descent into savagery can take place."
"I felt something very strong with the character and I just
followed my heart."
"They (Sarajevo survivors) said the war was like an earthquake. It happened and now
it's gone. You can't say the earthquake was right or wrong. All you know is that it
happened."
"What this film is about is the ability of the human spirit to keep going regardless
of the difficulties it encounters on a daily basis."
"The idea that these two best friends could grow up like brothers
and then be separated by the war makes one think what was this friendship? I think he
(Vlado) misses his friend." |
