Warriors (2002) User Reviews (11)

Frantic action , chases , explosions and thrills in this Kosovo warfare motion picture

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 31 August 2013]

This war film packs adventures , large-scale blow-up , thrilling plot , and lots of action for the most part , but also contains thought-provoking issues about courage and cowardice . The conflict between Servia and Kosovo serves as thrilling backdrop for this Wartime picture . It's a good mix of action-packed , adventure , thriller and warfare genre . The tragic story of a platoon of Spanish soldiers in Kosovo 2000 ; at the beginning they are rebuilding a Church , restoring electricity and helping villagers . The platoon is formed by Eloy Azorín as Soldado Vidal , Carla Pérez as Soldado Balbuena , Roger Casamajor as Soldado Lucas and Jordi Vilches as Cabo 1º Ballesteros ; all of them commanded by an unexperienced Teniente Alonso played by Eduardo Noriega and a tough Sargento Rubio performed by Rubén Ochandiano . Later on , they are assigned a mission in the hell of the Kosovo war . On rout their destination , the bunch is ambushed by Kosovar soldiers and their military vehicle -Oruga- sinks into a river . After that , the team escapes but they are detained , raped and strongly tortured .

This exciting movie contains noisy adventure , war and intense drama . Other chief excitements about the picture , will be in the intervention of a good plethora of Spanish actors and young secondaries who realize professionally competent interpretations . The traditional story and exciting screenplay was well written by the same Daniel Calparsoro though clichés run through-out , the enjoyable tale is enhanced for interesting moments developed among main characters and especially on their intense relationship when take place the upsettings moments when are attacked , besieged or mistreated . Thrilling musical score by Najwa Nimri as Najwajean , being composed by means of synthesizer . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Josep Civit filmed on location in Istog, Jablanica, Bosnia-Herzegovina , Klina, Kosovo and Lerida , Huesca , Guadalajara , Spain .

This is another superbly powerful Warfare movie being compellingly directed Daniel Carlparsoro. Daniel was raised in Donostia , for that reason most films are set in Basque country . Daniel uses to work with his spouses , as his first wife , Najawa Nimri composes his films and played in Asfalto , A Ciegas ; and his second one , Patricia Vico , performed in La Ira . Calparsoro is an expert on action and violent movies , such as 2o13 Combustion , 2012 Invasor Ausentes , 2000 Asfalto , 1997 A Ciegas ,1996 Pasajes , 1995 Salto a Vacío .

A hurra for Daniel Carlparsoro

[Alfredo Sanchez · 7/10 · 3 April 2002]

I think that fortunately spanish cinema is evolving from the obscure era of the "destape" (the first movies that were made after the death of Franco were known like this because most of them were light porn films) and from Almodovar's large shadow.

Guerreros is an entertaining film which makes the audience to question how war is really and how it is showed to us. The film begins with an intense dramatic action scene in which many kosovars are killed by serbian paramilitars. The mission of the platoon is bringing back electrical power to the village and go back home. But finally they get in trouble with the kosovar guerrilla because of the acts of a french captain and almost every french and many spanish die.

They're in the middle of Kosovo without transport, low ammunition and two wounded units.

The history is interesting and it's quite well made from the technical point of view but from the military point of view it's a complete disaster. A disaster because every lieutenant on every army knows how to manage a situation like this; that's why they're lieutenant and not soldiers, platoons never go along the path, and in anyway, all together to give a clear objective to an average shooter.

By the way, some other things are quite well done like the attitude of the sergeant, the way they manage their weapons and how finally they act. That's because they were trained partly by the spanish army and they taught them some things :)

Despite of the military mistakes, it's very entertaining and superb in FX, at least for spanish cinema. As I said in the summary, a hurra for Daniel Carlparsoro.

War action... and feelings

[rolherr · 2 April 2002]

There has never been, or at least not in the recent years, a Spanish movie like this one. We are used to certain personal dramas (like Almodovar) or chilling thrillers (like Amenabar´s "Thesis" or "The Others"). In Guerreros, everything turns around the remains of Kosovo´s war and a group of Spanish soldiers that were sent there in a humanitary mission to take control of the situation. Calparsoro discovers us that, in the so-many-times-seen field of war, what it is really important is every man´s personal feelings.

Guerreros is not only a war film. It goes further more than shots, blood or explosions to show us deep inside every soldier´s problems and reactions. You won´t find special effects (like in "Black Hawk Down") but you´ll really suffer as the movie goes on. And you will see how each character evolutionates according to what he sees or feels.

I don´t want to spoil anything from the movie, so I won´t tell any more. If you like war movies, you shouldn´t miss this one. Probably, it will make you think and discover other points of view in a war.

Worst screenplay and scenery ever

[urbanmani · 1/10 · 12 July 2005]

I don't know if directors, screen players or others in the team ever go to analyze the culture of one nation before recording a movie, which has to do with the part of new world history. KFOR troops suffered first victim in 2001, in an accident shooting, and fact is that KLA has never attacked NATO troops, they were allies. Every movie that describes history in a wrong way is to be judged. I have seen the movie out of curiosity, but this production is far far away from qualitative movie. My tip for directors is: before you shoot a movie, analyze the culture of the people first... On the other hand, KFOR soldiers were not positioned in mountains and rural areas of Kosovo, they were positioned in towns, villages and populated areas. Serb soldiers have fled Kosovo one week after KFOR troops marched. If you make a movie just to show the action, then don't use someone else suffering to create so called art, but create a fiction story, don't mess with people feelings, or on the other hand, gather facts and then create a realistic movie, what has happened... but it looks like Spanish troops in Kosovo were partying more than others, and have done a movie just to show how "brave" they are.... pity, shame for world cinematography... Spain is not for action, I say stick with Almodavar

It is NOT a documentary - it is a MOVIE about war.

[donmcdougall-25-926102 · 10/10 · 11 April 2011]

I read these reviews and some seem more concerned that the film be educational and politically correct. This film is fiction, and a damn good story about how people react to stress and loss. It could be ANY WAR, and that is the issue. A EXCELLENT movie about people, and not so much a National Geo special.

The characters are real, the story plausible, and at the end of the day it tells a story of conflict and not to heroic survival.

The film is frank and graphic, I am avoiding spoilers, but you should see this movie. It shows a side of us all that we need to see.

One of the thing that this find does is to put you in the place of the characters, you find yourself asking what would I do.

Guerreros or"another dumb and dumber ed sequel"

[daniel1835 · 1/10 · 7 June 2005]

OK,this is a resume of the entire movie,because this movie is probable one of the worst movies ever seen,not for his special effects it for his awful script.. i resume:this movie is about the NATO mission in kosovo,its about a soldiers of Spanish engineers corp., the film start whit him trying to rescue a Serb hostage,but wen he arrives,he don't shot he see how the hostage is executed with a plastic bag but he don't do anything,he is hitting by a weaponless mens and have more brainless scenes, 1ºIn the mission and stupid french commander decided to shot some kosovars refugees,(but kosovars militants of elk were the NATO allies). 2ºbefore lost 4 strikers and all the convoy,the rest of the Spanish platoon decided to continue the mission(wow,they are lost,are 10 soldiers,within trucks,radios,food and radio and the mission is in a village taken by serbs militians,) 3ºin the road to the village they see a car with more kosovar allies,but they decided to left the road and run across a mined field,genius,then they lost a soldier... 4ºwhen they arrive to village they are easily captured by militiants,(the reason they never use his machine guns) 5ºFinally the kosovars retakes the village using the Spaniards stykers,and some of the Spaniard soldiers escapes to the outskirts and kill a pacific famer,and eating the food like animals... awful movie,its more like "what don't do in a battlefield

How thin is the veneer of civilization?

[astosic · 8/10 · 8 January 2006]

We often watch world conflicts on TV and think they could never occur in our own country: we're too civilized to surrender ourselves to such brutal behaviour. This thought is one of many that haunts a group of Spanish peacekeepers in the embattled Serbian province of Kosovo. The troops represent a spectrum of personalities: the pacifist, the trigger happy, the professional soldier, the UN translator with conflicting loyalties, the soldier who wants no part of somebody else's conflict and who just wants to go home. As they undertake their duties - rebuilding a Church, restoring electricity to a town - the conflict becomes their reality. They are swept into it, and far from being the placid observers & peacekeepers they think they ought to be, they now must fight for their own survival. They slowly begin to lose that veneer of civilization that they though only they possessed, the same patina these embattled locals once had, but lost long ago. The director based many of the stories on actual events as told to him by Spanish soldiers returning from the region. It is filmed in a very gripping and heavy way - drawing you into it all, along with the lost soldiers. It drew great acclaim at the Toronto International Film Festival, 2002. For those who followed (or survived) the events of the last decade in the Balkans, it is a stark and honest portrayal that will leave many re-thinking the versions they may have formulated in their own minds, reading newspapers and watching TV, comfortable, in their own very civilized, and very insular, homes

Mockumentary Fiction ?

[spamm1715 · 2/10 · 9 April 2011]

If you do a movie about a modern conflict like Serbia/Kosovo, you got to have some kind of similarity between the events that really took place and the fiction.

You can't just have a KFOR platoon killed/Raped if nothing like this has ever taken place, which to my knowledge it has not.

If you wanna go down that road then why not Vampires n' Aliens too? It would have been much braver if they had shown the complete feeling of paralysis that the UN leadership had imposed on it's troops which were forced to witness genocide and not allowed to pick up their guns to stop it, exploring the impossibility of staying neutral in armed conflict now that would have been interesting.

Im left with a feeling that many people will be left a little bit dumber after watching this movie.

The limited war zone

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 7 June 2006]

The conflict in Kossovo serves as backdrop for this Spanish film. Directed by Daniel Calparsoro, whose "Asfalto" we recently saw, is an intense film that takes the viewer behind the horrible war in that part of Europe. How similar is the movie in comparison to the real events, we can't say, for sure.

We are presented with a group of Spanish soldiers that are sent to restore electric power to a small town. As the group approaches the Serbian border, they encounter an unexpected turn of events as they are attacked by one of the factions and end up straying into a no man's land where no one is supposed to enter. The soldiers are faced with the horrors of a war they were just supposed to stay away from.

Vidal, the daring soldier, is instrumental for getting them back in track after the Lt. Alonso suffers what appears to be a shock. Alonso turns out to show all signs of a coward when he is captured. It's only Vidal who at the start appears to be the one that wants to be sent home in order to avoid any confrontation; this young man proves to be a natural born leader who finds a way to get back after experiencing some tense moments in that forbidden zone.

The best thing in the film is Eloy Azorin, a talented young actor who is perfect for the role of Vidal. Eduardo Noriega, an actor who has done better in other films, is quite a puzzle as the cowardly lieutenant. Ruben Ochandiano, Carla Perez and Jordi Vilches are seen as part of the platoon of Spanish soldiers.

Daniel Calparsoro seems to be getting better and better all the time.

Soldiers, the real victims of war

[abisio · 26 May 2003]

The Spanish movie GUERREROS (WARRIORS) is an unexpected but pleasant surprise. This is not a movie against war; is against been involved in other people's war. To Americans, Kosovo with Serbs and Macedonians has little or no significance. Seems that Spanish people had the same problem.

A maintenance Spanish platoon sent as peace force to Kosovo with the only objective of restoring electricity in destroyed towns. By unexpected circumstances, they get involved in a fight between Serbs and Macedonians. They are attacked, tortured, raped and hunted from both sides alternatively, without even knowing who are they protecting or who is the enemy. The joke of the movie is that we know neither, why, just because in the war people dies before questions are asked or answered and being the good side is only a matter of who is the winner.

By the end, the surviving 'virgin soldiers' had become psychos, killing innocent people crossing their path.

Calparoso gives the movie a calculated pace and avoids easy common places. The change from inexperienced kids to monsters is a product of several shocking and difficult to watch situations. The story and the characters could seem something you saw before, but will surprise you in some moment.

There are lots of movies out there telling that war is not a game; but this one is really worth looking.

An important War-film addition

[rcharding · 9/10 · 4 January 2004]

I caught this on Spanish-language HBO the other night and was captured by its style, tension, and brilliantly executed character development. The pacing is deliberate and, at times, frenetic. The tragedy of the "fog of war" in which these Spanish peacekeepers are lost is palatible. If you liked "Saving Private Ryan", "The Big Red One" and "Enemy at the Gates", you'll love "Guerreros".