I'm tempted to call this a war movie, but the battles didn't
seem all that important. Rather this movie seems to concentrate on the drama
and suffering caused due to war.
With nearly all war movies you have good guys, bad guys, happy endings and sickening amounts of patriotism. This movie however never actually shows you much of the other side. In fact it never even tries to make one side seem more in the right. The very first scene starts off with attempted suicide, dismemberment etc. This sort of ambiguous moral grappling and difficult questions are rather rare in war movies which seem to go out of their way to make their characters as clear cut and likable or dislikable as possible.
The scene where the train comes in and the woman garlands the general was rather strange. This all you have in the way of a background for their marriage, which seems even stranger and unlikely. I wonder why they would ever marry, and the movie does not do much to explain.
The village is also quite unusual. While I don't think it's likely that any village would divide themselves based on the amount of limbs they have, the idea doesn't seem to be so unrealistic either.
I wonder if it is meant to symbolize class differences. Also it is a little strange that the Serbian army would send a contingent composed of men all from the same village and then send reinforcements who are also from the exact same village to the exact same battle.
The village’s characters are interesting, but none of them are focused on in detail. The way the grandfather tells the boy how useless lights are in the country manages to convey a sort of bleak outlook that is associated with Serbia and war in general.
The blind man who kept shouting about politics was one of the most interesting characters. Firstly the fact that he is blind seems to be a joke about how oblivious political activists can be. His death where he appeals to his enemies felt very symbolic. It didn't seem as though there was any great hatred on either side. The war seemed to be the doing of aloof politicians and not the will of common folk.
The other characters in the village are interesting but none of have quite a lot said about them, so I don't feel confident about commenting on them. They seem to work as characters in a group, in the context of the village to be more exact. Individually they seem shallow.
The rich trader, although not very important, was very interesting but I'm still not sure who those soldiers were [the ones who demanded a bribe] nor am I sure if the trader is supposed to be Turk or a Gypsy. Weren't both those group ridiculously poor by this time? Also he seems to be one of the few foreigners in the movie.
The main characters, the wife, general and the arm less solider are hard to comment on. I wonder why the general seems to accept the wife's extra martial affairs. I wonder why the wife is still interested in the arm less solider even though he is married and is not very committed. The wife does act very independent and seems to do as she pleases. The arm less solider just seems to brood. The general does have some interesting conflicts with the solider, the wife's and his own feelings.
Perhaps the relationship between the three [or four if you count the silent wife of the arm less solider] is supposed to represent all the ideas and intellectual conflicts that took place during the war.
However I can't shake this feeling that the whole affair was underwhelming and seemed to drag at times.
With nearly all war movies you have good guys, bad guys, happy endings and sickening amounts of patriotism. This movie however never actually shows you much of the other side. In fact it never even tries to make one side seem more in the right. The very first scene starts off with attempted suicide, dismemberment etc. This sort of ambiguous moral grappling and difficult questions are rather rare in war movies which seem to go out of their way to make their characters as clear cut and likable or dislikable as possible.
The scene where the train comes in and the woman garlands the general was rather strange. This all you have in the way of a background for their marriage, which seems even stranger and unlikely. I wonder why they would ever marry, and the movie does not do much to explain.
The village is also quite unusual. While I don't think it's likely that any village would divide themselves based on the amount of limbs they have, the idea doesn't seem to be so unrealistic either.
I wonder if it is meant to symbolize class differences. Also it is a little strange that the Serbian army would send a contingent composed of men all from the same village and then send reinforcements who are also from the exact same village to the exact same battle.
The village’s characters are interesting, but none of them are focused on in detail. The way the grandfather tells the boy how useless lights are in the country manages to convey a sort of bleak outlook that is associated with Serbia and war in general.
The blind man who kept shouting about politics was one of the most interesting characters. Firstly the fact that he is blind seems to be a joke about how oblivious political activists can be. His death where he appeals to his enemies felt very symbolic. It didn't seem as though there was any great hatred on either side. The war seemed to be the doing of aloof politicians and not the will of common folk.
The other characters in the village are interesting but none of have quite a lot said about them, so I don't feel confident about commenting on them. They seem to work as characters in a group, in the context of the village to be more exact. Individually they seem shallow.
The rich trader, although not very important, was very interesting but I'm still not sure who those soldiers were [the ones who demanded a bribe] nor am I sure if the trader is supposed to be Turk or a Gypsy. Weren't both those group ridiculously poor by this time? Also he seems to be one of the few foreigners in the movie.
The main characters, the wife, general and the arm less solider are hard to comment on. I wonder why the general seems to accept the wife's extra martial affairs. I wonder why the wife is still interested in the arm less solider even though he is married and is not very committed. The wife does act very independent and seems to do as she pleases. The arm less solider just seems to brood. The general does have some interesting conflicts with the solider, the wife's and his own feelings.
Perhaps the relationship between the three [or four if you count the silent wife of the arm less solider] is supposed to represent all the ideas and intellectual conflicts that took place during the war.
However I can't shake this feeling that the whole affair was underwhelming and seemed to drag at times.
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