great European auteurs

Rating: 7/10 (3 August 2009)

Do not watch this movie light heartedly, possibly with a alcoholic beverage (it might help ease the pain). Klimov does an amazing job of jolting the audience and showing how close to annihilation we were when the Nazi's were trying to take over. Set in Byelonessia 1943, a little boy is digging in hopes of finding guns or grenades that have been left behind. He finds a rifle, which he is so happy about, but doesn't realize the events that have been set by him now trying to be a solider. Klimov does an excellent job of showing "glasnost", creating a vertical relationship with the audience, and a holds no bar kind of feeling. The audience experiences everything with the Flor, from his hearing loss when the bombs go off, to swimming through the mud. You feel disgusting and want a shower as you watch this. All and all though, it is the triumph of the human spirit that shines through. Flor is put into unimaginable situations, where he must survive, grieve his family members who have all be killed, and become an adult before he is fully ready. There is a scene, where Flor finds bandages, and tries to bandage his rifle (as if that is going to fix it) but it is from a little boy's mentality who is obviously not really ready to take all this on. The Hitler Montage in the end, is perfect way to create another vertical relationship with the audience. It starts with images of men found in Nazi camps, and runs through everything down to the baby picture of Hitler. It makes you question and think, babies are suppose to be harmless and adorable. But this baby is responsible for killing thousands and thousands of people!