A masterpiece, perhaps the greatest war film i have ever seen.

Rating: 10/10 (2 March 2003)

I just caught this film on tape, where did it come from? -I had never heard of it before and yet it may very well be the greatest war film i have ever seen. It starts out more or less like a small art house picture and by the end it is epic. Surely Steven Spielberg must have studied this one before making Schindler's List for it's portrayal of the systematic, town by town liquidation, of jews, gypsies, woman, children... in bellarusse during WWII, and it is absolutely devastating. Spielberg's film feels like hollywood hokum by comparison, and i really liked Schindler's List, or rather, i thought it was a great and powerful movie. but there are so many unforgettable images in this movie, images that will forever haunt me, from the opening scene where young boys pry rifles from dead soldier's cold fingers, to the roving eyeball of a dying cow. Make no mistake, this is a difficult film to watch, but should be required screening for all.