made in the Soviet Union, it’s about the Nazi occupation of a small village in Belarus, seen through the eyes of a 14 yo conscript to anti-Nazi partisans.

The style is fever dream - almost a cross between Apocalypse Now and a David Lynch movie. There are no heroics in this movie - no redemption, no moral arc, just brutality, nihilism, and carnage. The ending stayed with me for days.

It struck me as starkly different than well known western WW2 movies that strove for unsparing realism, such as Saving Private Ryan or Flags of our Fathers. Even these movies seem ‘bright’ compared to the grit of this movie.