Danis Tanovic (France/Italy/Belgium/U.K./Slovenia)
Danis Tanovic's black-on-black comedy about two soldiers, one Bosnian and one Serbian, trapped in a trench between opposing sides, is unsubtle but well-crafted. Nearby, a Bosnian soldier lies dying on top of a spring-loaded mine that will kill everyone if anyone tries to move him. Tanovic, a television journalist who covered the war in Yugoslavia, finds no heroes here. The Bosnian, Chiki (Brancko Djuric), and the Serb, Nino (Rene Bitorajac), each have moments of control, but eventually they call a ceasefire of their own while trying to extricate themselves from the situation. What follows is a fairly mechanical absurdist story in which the United Nations is called in, the media discover the story and the usual circus results. Given Tanovic's determination not to blame either side, he finds his biggest villain in an English UN bureaucrat (Simon Callow) who tries to milk the situation for maximum personal advantage. Katrin Cartlidge (Naked, Breaking The Waves) appears as a canny television reporter who forces the UN to respond. - L.L.

(Sat. Sept. 8, 9:30 p.m., RTH; Sun. Sept. 9, 12 p.m., Uptown)