Sarajevo on film 1998 United Kingdom / United States
Shot Through the Heart
A BBC/HBO drama of two Sarajevo childhood friends who end up as snipers on opposite sides — based on a true story, and a Peabody Award winner.
- Director
- David Attwood
- Year
- 1998
- Language
- English
- Country
- United Kingdom / United States
- Genre
- war, drama, TV
Shot Through the Heart is a television film that tells the siege of Sarajevo through the single most painful version of its logic: two boys who grew up as neighbours in the same city, one Bosniak and one Serb, end the war as snipers on opposite sides of the front line, shooting at each other’s streets. It is based on a true story, adapted from journalist John Falk’s article “Anti-Sniper” — and the film’s insistence on the friendship before the war is what makes the premise unbearable rather than melodramatic.
Made as a BBC/HBO co-production in 1998 and directed by David Attwood, it won a Peabody Award the same year — recognition for treating a subject that could easily have been sensationalised with restraint. The two leads, Linus Roache and Vincent Perez, carry the film through the war years of a city that bears the marks the film describes.
For a visitor, it is the film of the siege’s most intimate casualty: not the buildings, but the friendships that the war divided. It pairs with the memorials as the human-scale companion to the city’s public record.
Critical reception
The HBO film won a Peabody Award in 1998 and was greeted by American TV critics as a powerful true story told without a false note — an audience score of 83% on Rotten Tomatoes reflects the lasting verdict.
Public reception and legacy
The real story has a long tail. Based on John Falk’s Details article “Anti-Sniper”, the film follows two friends turned snipers on opposite sides of the line. The real Vlado, who once said he would shoot his friend again, later told Falk: “I would hug him, I would drink with him… People must forgive. Not to forget, but to forgive.” The other man’s remains were never found.
What the critics said
“Directed by David Attwood without one false emotion, 'Shot Through the Heart' has the tone and pacing of a good independent theatrical feature”Read the review →
“this melancholy TV movie seems every bit as real as the news footage from luckless Bosnia”Read the review →