Savior

Savior stars Dennis Quaid as Joshua Rose, a serviceman who, after losing his wife and young son in a terrorist bombing, adopts a brutally violent existence (as well as the name Guy) as a Serbian mercenary in the Bosnian War. There he meets a Serbian rape victim, Vera, who rekindles his sympathy, compassion, and eventually, sense of humanity. Dennis Quaid gives an intense, dry- and steely-eyed portrayal of a man with nothing more to lose. Newcomer Natasa Ninkovic as Vera is also very good, as is Breaking the Waves star Stellan Skarsgård as Quaid's long-time friend turned fellow mercenary Peter. In his first English language effort, Serbian director Predrag Antonijevic wisely has them all play against sentiment, letting Quaid's redemption register with its own weight. On the downside, Robert Orr's screenplay could have used some front-loading. Guy's family is handily dispatched and he's thrown into the fray so quickly that we know little of the man he was, which robs his journey back of much of its impact. Still, in a brutal testament to the horrors of ethnic cleansing, Savior is a moving, well-crafted drama, as timely as a page torn from today's paper. Recommended. (S. C. Sickles)