Most disturbing war movie I have ever seen.

Rating: Null/10 (14 December 2010)

This movie has to be one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen. It's an attack on all the sense, you can smell, hear, see and almost taste fear, horror and madness as Florya and everything he holds dear become consume by war. The movie starts off quite pleasant, green meadows and mountains make up the scenery, and lushes forest let streaks of sunlight through, as rain trickles down from the clouds. The scenery in the movie, (much like the character) takes a drastic change as the movie progresses. Florya becomes traumatised by each of his battle experiences that by the end of the movie his face is beat up and drained of all hope and joy, much like the baron and crude landscape towards the end of the movie. The dialogue is limited to a couple of lines through the movie not much talking takes place. Instead we are subjected to a ringing noises and gun fire, as well as the silence of the Arctic tundra. I found it interesting how the visuals were unrelated to the sound. For example when Florya and Glasha first get hit with bombs the sounds of the forest are replaced by bomb explosion's and gun fire creating a collision of imagery and sound. What makes this movie so hard to sit through is the seriousness and honesty in each shot. There is no glorification in war and this film sets out to prove that. Even the protagonist himself is not glorified, instead he is tortured continuously by the harshness of battle, and fails time after time to engage in any heroic act. He is unable to save his mother, care for the villigers, or show mercy for the enemy. The one thing that really stuck in my mind about this film was the straight on camera shots of each characters face. At first this creates familiarity and a play-fullness as we travel with Florya through the whimsical forest in the 1st moments in the movie. We later get to know each character in a more intimate way, the head on portrait shots give us insight and clear vision of each persons expressions and gestures. So much so that we don't need much of a back story or dialogue. Their faces communicate much more than words ever could.