This is compelling for showing how sometimes suddenly wars can begin for no apparent reason, and they can have a devastating effect on the people that fight in them. If you want geopolitical commentary or military realism, you can find documentaries to satisfy you. If you want something closer to a meditation on the ultimate absurdity of war, this will get you thinking. Really, not much happens; people are confused and scared, they fight and get hurt, and a lot of them die. No glorious marches, no battle hymns, no heroes plowing down the enemy (who is never seen here), no solemn soliloquies on the glory of victory. Just banal bloody disgust, like war.
I do agree with the critics who find the parallel opening and closing scenes rather ineffective. There may be a message there about sex, gender, love, paint, bodily fluids, or moisture... but it seems too disconnected from the rest of the action and style of the film.
I do agree with the critics who find the parallel opening and closing scenes rather ineffective. There may be a message there about sex, gender, love, paint, bodily fluids, or moisture... but it seems too disconnected from the rest of the action and style of the film.