There was a very effective opening with attack on group of soldiers, almost all of whom were killed and we then saw uniforms being stripped from the bodies, collected, washed, repaired and then re-issued. And it's then we meet the main group of protagonists on their signing up with these uniforms. Paul, the central character, on receiving his says ‘not mine’, naively believing that all have named personal uniforms and officer tears off tag – but then we cut to shot of lots of these name tags lying below his chair – and the new recruit(s) in blissful ignorance they are in dead men’s clothing.
I was expecting, for some reason, to be solely focused on one person – or may be a small group almost all the time, but we alternated being with the central characters and grimly traumatic panoramic shots of the slaughter. I still felt personal involvement with the main characters but slightly less than I was expecting – and we did not hear so much about their lives before the war and their families as I was expecting although there was some background filled in but at times, it felt a little cursory.
It was grimly interesting too seeing how war fought in that in several areas with two sides back and forth and the situation with the Ukraine war came strongly to mind. Although with this, while conditions particularly for Russians, seemed similar in the throwing more and more troops to the front, Ukrainian forces much more guerrilla-like it seems and not necessarily having a fixed front to allow for back and forth in one area/ battlefield terrain.
The music was very unusual in that it was often just brief burst of sound rather than a more sustained effect designed to play on and emphasise the emotions, particularly for this sort of film.