Perfect war horror

Rating: 10/10 (12 March 2019)

The Director here is a champion of what I call the camera sweep. At times the camera travels as if bound to a drone flying long and slow over rural Russia taking in the landscape and the effects of war. It's such a mesmerising tactic, making the viewer an eyewitness. The other technique used is the framing of the shots and the concentration on faces, in particular the boy whose life during the war we follow intimately. There are other techniques, such as the use of animals to show suffering and shock, brilliantly effective and very moving. The use of mists was terrifically atmospheric, and contained an impression of being on the edge of danger, which, of course, it was. There is still more genius though, as some sequences are shown just beyond forest lines, creating a sort of outrage, as well as a true sense of partisan warfare. As well as this, one comes to realise a really true picture of the Russian farming life, poor yet happy, cruelly upset in gradually increasing violence, and thus more outrage for the viewer. I don't know if this movie was intended as a tragedy involving a boy or a broader indictment of war and its ravages, but both have been indelibly achieved. It's true at times there is a certain weirdness to behaviours, and certainly some licence was taken, but again the Director has purpose. I can't go into specifics without using spoilers, but the initial return to home was one case in point. Again I consider this technique genius. The closing sequence is also a stroke of genius. I consider this movie to be seminal, along with The Grey Zone, Schindler's List and The City of Life and Death. Easily one of the most authentic and heart-breaking war movies I have ever seen.