A war film stripped of all the usual slob and guilt, leaving us with nothing but the raw elements, right there on the surface and in our faces. Yet, while never letting loose of its realism in the matter, nor of the tension in relating it, it maintains a delicate beauty with each frame rarely found in films of lighter context. I loved the soundtrack, which lives and breathes inside the film through the instruments and voices of folk singers, and a quite horrifying, but none the less fitting act with a dancing bear. A compact gem with a lot of thrust and impact.