Demons of War 1998

After the Bosnian War, Bosnia and Herzegovina remains under a NATO-led IFOR presence, and the fragile balance of peace keeps the region on edge. In February 1996, a unit of Polish IFOR troops from the 6th Airborne Brigade detains and releases three foreign mercenaries in Srebrenica, narrowly preventing their execution by a Bosnian mob. Major Edward ‘Edek’ Keller [Bogusław Linda] leads this battalion, and his decisive, often defiant leadership soon triggers an official probe into insubordination and clashes with local Bosnian militia and mercenaries. The investigation is carried out by two new officers, Lieutenant Czacki [Olaf Lubaszenko] and Major Czesław Kusz [Tadeusz Huk], who will take over command on 1 March. The timing is sensitive because Poland is trying to secure NATO membership, adding political pressure to the already tense military atmosphere. Keller’s grip on command endures for now, even as the inquiry looms.

When a distress call comes from a downed Norwegian helicopter, Keller defies a direct IFOR order to stand down and mounts a high-stakes search-and-rescue mission. They locate the helicopter wreck and discover the crew dead, prompting a pursuit of the Bosnian militia responsible. The pursuit leads them to a group of about twenty fighters led by Skijo [Slobodan Ćustić], who are guarding two captives: Nicol [Aleksandra Nieśpielak], a young French journalist, and Dano Ivanov [Denis Delić], a Bosnian press representative. Keller quietly eliminates a militiaman to free the hostages and the unit presses on toward extraction. But the militia quickly learns of a missing videotape held by Ivanov, raising the stakes and prompting more dangerous confrontations. The helicopter is shot down during the extraction, and the Polish unit is ambushed, leaving several soldiers wounded. The tension between a peacekeeping ideal and cold, hard combat surfaces, and Keller must keep the unit together as they navigate these hostile waters.

The group holes up at a farm camp, where they learn that Ivanov possessed a videotape allegedly showing a mass village execution ordered by the Bosnian Prime Minister. Nicol provides essential context—but the next morning, Ivanov traps one of Keller’s soldiers and escapes, triggering another brutal ambush as they move toward safety. Some soldiers question the mission’s purpose, while Keller remains focused on survival and the protection of his men. The pursuit intensifies as Skijo and his militia threaten to burn a Gypsy village near the camp. Keller and Kusz push through a series of ferocious engagements, ultimately pressing closer to Skijo. In a decisive confrontation, Keller kills Skijo, with Kusz’s aid, and the operational urgency shifts toward securing the perimeter and bringing the men home. The toll of war weighs heavily on the battalion as they reach base, where the cost of every life becomes painfully clear.

In a crucial twist, the presumed videotape’s significance unravels: it turns out that Ivanov did not deliver a damning secret film, but a Polish pornography tape, undermining the militia’s leverage and the moral panic surrounding the supposed atrocity. The realization reframes Keller’s decisions and the unit’s experiences, and he is relieved of command, with Kusz taking over. Before departing, Keller entrusts the tape to Nicol, a gesture that underscores the fragile balance between truth, media, and the human cost of war. The film closes on a somber note as Keller sits aboard the plane, surrounded by the coffins of fallen soldiers from his unit, a stark reminder that peacekeeping often comes at an unthinkable price.