Securing a spot in the top five on IMDb’s list of ‘Great Unknown War Movies/Series,’ this film, despite being relatively unknown to mainstream audiences, has gained an impressive 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and has been hailed as a ‘masterpiece’ by many viewers thanks to its unflinching realism, intense storytelling, and unforgettable performances. Directed by Elem Klimov and released in 1985, the Soviet epic follows a young Belarusian teenager, Flyora, as he joins the resistance during the German occupation of what is now known as Belarus in World War II.
The narrative is marked by both hyper-realistic depictions of war and surreal, haunting imagery, capturing the psychological and physical horrors inflicted upon civilians. Klimov co-wrote the screenplay with Ales Adamovich, a former partisan whose experiences lent the film its harrowing authenticity.
Aleksei Kravchenko, who plays Flyora, delivers one of the most acclaimed child performances in cinema history, fully embodying the trauma and loss endured by his character.
The production faced nearly a decade of censorship struggles before being allowed to fully materialise, highlighting the film’s unflinching portrayal of wartime atrocities.
The film is the last that Klimov directed before he died. Prime video describes the film as “Elem Klimov’s final work [which] remains the most horrifying anti-war film ever made.”
One viewer wrote on Rotten Tomatoes about the film: “Elem Klimov’s brutal masterpiece is definitely the most devastating, disturbing, terrifying and personal, one of my favourite war films of all time.
“It almost feels like you’re watching a horror movie. Showing the true cruel reality of war from a civilian perspective which is witnessed on a young mind, during these atrocities committed in Eastern Europe.”
Someone else wrote: “This is a heart wrenching film and might possibly be my favourite war film.”
Another person added: “I have no f***ing words. One of the greatest films of all time. War is hell.”
In a Google review, someone called Nick Hoare also wrote: “One of the most challenging and intense viewing experiences ever, but immediately enters my top 10 films of all time. The film combines a brutal naturalistic representation of Nazi war crimes in Belarus with nightmarish surrealism to form a truly unforgettable and nearly unbearable account of war’s impact on humans.
“The acting, especially the lead, is incredible. The ‘effects’–all done in camera–are powerful. And the audio soundtrack is amazing, really reinforcing the hellish disorientation of conflict and barbarism.”
