Harrison's Flowers

Harrison's Flowers; war drama, France, 2000; D: Elie Chouraqui, S: Andie MacDowell, Adrien Brody, Brendan Gleeson, David Strathairn, Elias Koteas, Alun Armstrong, Caroline Goodall, Diane Baker, Gerard Butler

New Jersey, October '91. Sarah is happy when her husband, Harrison, returns home after another assignment as a reporter for Newsweek. Because of his frequent absence, he feels that their two children are neglected, so he decides to quit. Still, his boss persuades him into one last assignment; to cover the Croatian War of Independence. After Harrison disappears in Vukovar, Sarah travels there because she thinks he is still alive. She meets reporters Marc and Kyle as they travel ever further towards eastern Croatia. At Vukovar, they witness how Serb extremists are killing Croats and Serb pacifists. Kyle is killed too. In the hospital, Sarah discovers Harrison alive, but wounded. They manage to return home.

Not counting documentaries, "Harrison's Flowers" by Elie Chouraqui is the best film about the siege of Vukovar, the "Grozny of Croatia", in the 2000s. A couple of moments turned out heavy handed; some due to occasional artistic omissions and some due to budget constraints, yet as a big picture the film is remarkably accurate in portraying the event in question that can rarely be found as the main topic in films outside the former Yugoslavia. The first third of the film, which shows the disjointed life of a reporter, Harrison, since he is always away from home and his family, quietly builds elegant drama with a few humorous touches—for instance, after he returns home, his wife Sarah obviously "missed him". The next day, she goes to work and the employees in the building constantly mention how she looks "tired", "worn out", how "she should take a day off", until one guy finally brings it up: "Is Harrison back home?", upon which she gives them a sign that they should give her a break already upon which they all burst in laughter. 

Andie MacDowell is very good in the dramatic role as Sarah, who is looking for her husband, whereas the film offers Adrien Brody in one of his early roles, as the reporter who accompanies her through the enemy lines, already showing his acting talent. The war segment, which starts some 40 minutes into the film, is overall well directed and assembled, though it has some clumsy moments that lack authenticity—for instance, after renting a car in Graz, Sarah drives with a Croatian guy called Ščomak (which is a Slovenian last name), but suddenly, when they enter a village in Slavonia, all of a sudden a tank appears behind a house and they crash, as two Serb paramilitary soldiers show up and shoot Ščomak, but what is the motive or reason? Why not elaborate a bit by having them discover Ščomak is Croatian through his ID? Another paramilitary wants to rape Sarah, but then there is an explosion in the background so he gives up and just leaves her there? After they just killed her companion? This should have been handled better, with more common sense and logic. The finale is hastily resolved and rather messy, especially since it is difficult to believe that the three protagonists could observe Serb paramilitary killing people in Vukovar at such close distance without a problem, yet director Chouraqui showed a sure hand and managed to assemble enough virtues that show both the madness of war and the dangers of being a reporter that covers conflicts.

Grade:++