I watched this movie in a trance. Having been in some of the locales shown in this film, myself, during a particularly nasty war, I sat, stunned, reliving the amazing absurdity of everything. Madness? I can't say. Crazy? I don't know. I remember the astounding, indescribable, ALICE IN WONDERLAND aspects of war, with strange coincidences layering on themselves, with things happening that couldn't possibly happen but did, and the fun house-with-death atmosphere that, ultimately, simply made everyone laugh instead of cry. The thing I most take from this movie is the normalcy of absurdity, and in myself, when I finally came to the conclusion that what complacent folk may consider insanity is, in reality, the most normal of all things.
I also recall the bizarre behavior of men given weapons and a license to kill, and their running amok to vent their own desires; but also, strangely, devising their own morals as they went; so that one second rape and murder were fine, but the next a capital offense.
Like I said, I watched this movie in a trance; and as much as I hate to say this, it may very well be the best movie about warfare, at least in Eastern Europe, ever committed to film.
Period.
I also recall the bizarre behavior of men given weapons and a license to kill, and their running amok to vent their own desires; but also, strangely, devising their own morals as they went; so that one second rape and murder were fine, but the next a capital offense.
Like I said, I watched this movie in a trance; and as much as I hate to say this, it may very well be the best movie about warfare, at least in Eastern Europe, ever committed to film.
Period.