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A long and brutal depiction of a Russian youth who couldn't wait to runaway and join the partisan's fight against the German invaders. He got more than he bargained for as you might suspect.While I felt the movie was too long, the last half was riveting by showing the bizarre circus of inhumanity a German unit created while burning a village and its inhabitants. The last half will definitely stir up the same unpleasent emotions and anger that footage of Bataan, Pearl Harbor, or the Holacaust do. This movie is a must see from a historical (Russian) viewpoint.
Follow Ups:
There is something in this film that I find extremely objectionable - to me that is the result of a less than great director tackling a very serious job, and mostly failing. I thought Klimov's approach was one of hitting you on the head with a hammer, not entering your brain quetly and powerfully - like Fellini would, for instance. But Dmitry loved it, I believe.
I surely wasn't bowled over by the talent and found the first half way overdrawn. The last half, "the hammer", was particularly surreal and beyond brutal. As much as a circus the village scene is it could have easily represented truth of a German unit's "behavior".One problem, for me, is that the director cast a group of village people that looked every bit the part that would justify the German ideology of extermination.
I have no desire to see it again but I also think it's a good snapshot of the truth that people might see. I know the German racial pogrom in Russia is completely off the American radar screen. It's something we never think about--it's out of reach. This film does give it reach.
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