Harrison's Flowers (2000)

Powerful

Absolutely Fantastic

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

I liked this movie a lot but it still seemed somehow 'wrong' to me. The storyline was very stilted and unbelievable (yeah, a woman who knows nothing about photography and war will travel to the Balkans and rescue her husband from those complete animals? No. Even Bruce Willis might struggle :-)).I was a press photographer for many years and got into a lot of tight situations (not wars fortunately) and some of the scenes seemed 'real' to me and some really 'unreal'.I thought Andie McDowell did a reasonable job. So Did Aiden Brody but SOMEONE tell me why he stopped being an arsehole and became a good guy? The plot seemed to slip there about the middle. Also the father-son relationship here is so thin you'd fall through it. The kid felt neglected and then and tended his dad's plants for three months? Really? Hey, it's not bad to watch (some good war scenes in there) but this is a way big waste of money. You can try to be 'Saving Private Ryan' and 'Sleepless in Seatle' and expect to either succeed or have film-goers rave about you (well, theoretically you could I guess, but this effort falls way short).

usually i don't like the war movies because are very exhausting but this i like very much for the fact of the love of the wife for his husband all the things that she do because she knows that he isn't dead. the love that the father have for their beautiful kids, who are performed by amazing young actors. the role of all the actors are amazing and wonderful all know how to react on every scene o f the movie even the kids that i think that both will be amazing actors in the future. the story that is based on a book is beautifully told in the movie and fabulously directed by the director. the movie isn't be popular in the us than in other cities but i guess that is a movie that was a movie that could be nominated to the Oscars specially Andie Macdowell.

This is one heck of a movie. Everything about it is just so wonderfully put together. The story is about a woman (Andie Mcdowell) and her journalist husband (I forget his name). While on a trip, her husband is reported dead, but Sarah (I remembered her name now) doesn't believe that is true, so, she sets out to find him. She doesn't go along, she goes with some other journalists (including Adrian Brody). This trip is a long, dangerous, and strenuous trip that shows the brutality of war, and the strong love between a woman and her husband. What happens I won't say of course, but the title of the movie has to do with the ending.The acting is phenomenal and the direction of the movie is superb. The script is great, however I found the dialog to be bland and had a little bit to much profanity, but its a really minor turn off. But the movie is a movie you can't forget, and its a must see for war fans and for fans of anyone in the cast.I rate it 10/10 (excellent) Rated R-Strong War Violence and Gruesome Images, Pervasive Language and Brief Drug Use

This movie must be seen as a love story more than anything else, and it works as a love story. However, to get an accurate picture of the war between Yugoslavia and Croatia, Harrison's Flowers is not suited. Those familiar with the history of the former Yugoslavia know that war crimes took place in and around Vukovar, and in 1991-92, Serbian nationalist paramilitaries of Arkan were responsible for heinous crimes. However, the movie is very one-sided, and Serbians are presented as half-drunk criminal villains while Croatians get the image of brave freedom fighters. In fact, the vast majority of movies portray Serbians as the villains, but I would claim that Croatians are maybe even more nationalistic than the Serbs. Those who watch the movie should know that Croatians were also responsible for killing civilians, especially during Operation Storm in 1995.I have gained operational experience myself as a war correspondent, and I know what is like to be under fire from mortars, artillery and snipers. Therefore I was very surprised to see how the reporters and photographers from the movie entered Vukovar wearing military camouflages trying to hide from snipers. I don't know any reporters who would do it like this because it makes you a legitimate target, and I doubt experienced reporters from Newsweek would do it like that. The goal of a journalist in a war area is to be seen. Yes, sometimes you have to avoid checkpoints to get to the other side, but to wear a military uniform is very, very stupid.Now it has been a couple of days since I wrote my review, and there was another thing that bothered me in this movie. Sarah lands in the city of Graz in Austria making her way all through Croatia to get to Vukovar. If she really wanted to save her husband, it would have been a lot easier to get to Belgrade. From Belgrade there is only a two-hour drive to Vukovar, and the city was controlled by the Serbs at this point. I just spoke to a friend of mine who was an officer in Vukovar, and he said it would have been no problem for the character in the movie to get to Vukovar. Even if there were some paramilitaries present, the Yugoslav army, JNA, was in control.For more about the Battle of Vukovar, Wikipedia has an interesting article, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vukovar