a masterpiece. best anti-war movie i have ever seen. very soul-crushing, and every bit of it is inspired by real events in belarus during ww2. ultimately, this movie caused the director to stop making movies because he couldnt top it.
cinematography is some of the best ever. the score is more like a horror movie than a "war" movie. as a matter of fact, the nazis are like monsters instead of people. their airplane haunts this particular village over the course of the whole movie. there are some philosophical elements there, while it is mostly hyperreal, it is also surreal at a few moments. it is subtitled with most of the dialog spoken in russian and some moments in german.
a cow was actually killed to do a scene. also, live rounds were shot within inches of some of the actors. crazy shyt.
the criterion blu ray is top notch. they cleaned it up and restored it to their their usual high standard.
if you watch foreign films, war films or period pieces, i can highly recommend it.