Haunting yet thought provoking

Rating: 10/10 (9 February 2011)

Prior to watching this movie, I was told to prepare to be shocked. Now that I've watched it, I realized why I was warned about this movie.
This film embarks on Florya's journey of WWII Byelorrusia in the most astound way possible. The film begins with an opening line of "Are you crazy?", a question the audience will subconsciously ask over the course of the movie. Klimov does not glorify war in the movie; depictions of pain, suffering and agony is shown in the film. Our emotions are instantly indulged into the screen through the stylistic use of overloading our senses along with the soundtrack. As I watched the scene of Florya and Glasha walking through the swamp, I felt as if I was struggling in the dirty mud with them. For such a simple act of walking through a swamp, Klimov made the scene haunting for the audience, among with many other horrific scenes. From the glimpse of the piles of dead bodies to the bombs accompanied with silence, I felt a sense of uneasiness, literally as if I was in a nightmare.
As Florya's life as a soldier is exposed, we see him age significantly. This transition contrasts with his introduction, where he is shown as a naive kid. During this stage, close-up reaction shots of his face are shown where he stares into the camera, as if he was looking through the camera lens. He almost looks like he's in trance, thus evoking an uneasy, odd feeling in the audience. We see the terror of war affecting him even more as he loses his humanity along the way. When he spots an woman in agony, he doesn't help her, but fixes his gun instead. As an audience, we question whether or not Florya should have listened to his mother. Is his journey on war worth affecting his sanity and humanity?
No, The swamp scene was not easy for me to watch. Did I want to see piled up dead bodies behind Florya's house? No, I did not. Though it was unappealing, those moments were powerful and truthful. The shock and disturbance instantly made the movie unforgettable and evoke a splurge of emotions at the same time. The graphic depiction is not glamorized in a formulaic way, therefore an aspect of realism is injected. As a result, I was able to understand the true nature of war.
For instance, the most meaningful scene of the movie was shown at the end when Florya shoots at a portrait of Hiltler as an act of a symbolic purge. Through the gunshots, a montage of Hitler is shown. We first see corpses in concentration camps and a marching sea of Nazis. It eventually transcends back into Hitler's early life as a child, then finally a shot of him as a baby on his mother's lap. He then stops shooting as he realizes that Hitler was once a child and retains a sense his humanism. At this point, I asked myself again: Is his journey on war worth affecting his sanity and humanism? Is it worth it to go through all that violence?
Well, the question is answered when he makes the choice to join the Partisians at the end. It was surprising at first that anyone would join the war again after all that trauma, however I finally understood the message. The cyclical nature of Florya is shown as he transitions from a boy to an adult in the war, consequently making his own conscious decision. Although Klimov shows the cruelty of war, the point was not to discourage the audience to join the army, but rather expose the reality of war so that the right decision can be made. If one is to join, one must understand that suffering is inevitable, therefore we must have a purpose. This powerful message enforced on me even more as I saw the juxtaposition of the Nazis drinking and applauding in contrast with the villagers were being burnt, almost treating it like a party rather than acting upon for a purpose. This movie was a wake up call as the message was universal - the war did not only happen in Byelorrusia. War still happens at the present day. While I was thankful that I did not go through that terror, the reality is that those in WWII did. The fundamental message does not only impact Florya, but to the audience as well, especially those interested in being an army solider. We finally understand that if we choose to go through brutality and suffering, we must be willing to fight for a cause.