Review of The Whistleblower (2010) by Jimmy A — 13 Aug 2011

The true story of a Nebraskan police officer Kathy Bolkovac traveling to the war torn Bosnia in the 90's to help administer the fragile peace in the region proves to be an interesting movie, but somewhat spoiled with confusing directing.

The fact that the movie is based (but how much?) on true events instantaneously bumps up the interest factor for the movie. The Whistleblower sets itself apart from your average political thriller by choosing the much forgotten Bosnian war as its stage. Rachel Weisz gives a terrific role as the Kathy Bolkovac, a police officer, who is accustomed to follow her keen sense of justice no matter the situation. Soon after accepting a job as a peacekeeper in Bosnia, she gets a hunch of misdoings by the various officials in Bosnia which set her on a path that will change her life forever.

Bosnian war in the early 90's with its three main participants Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats was and still is a much complicated matter. Religion and cultural tensions between the parties flared up into a brutal war in the early 90s, something which NATO decided to put an end in 1995 with its bombing campaign. Like so often, wars are often easily and briefly won by the superior side and so it was in the Bosnian war too; but it is the aftermath that so often proves to be much more challenging to handle. In case of the Whistleblower story this saying definitely holds true as Kathy Bolkovac finds out soon after her arrival to Bosnia, as she runs into human trafficking running wild in the area with all its ugliness and human misery attached.

Rachel Weisz fits her role with ease and gives a touching role as a police officer fighting the seemingly endless bureaucracy to get justice served. Sadly her efforts are much spoiled by the Larysa Kondracki's confusing directing which turn many of the scenes into a hard to follow mess. A 1h 45min movie naturally cannot focus on all the sides of this complicated conflict, but the fact that almost zero background about the Bosnian war is being explained leaves the movie much standing on nothing. Even so The Whistleblower is an interesting movie, if for nothing else, the much ignored setting of Bosnia makes it worth watching and also Rachel Weisz's good performance.