Andrei Tarkovsky directs Nikolay Burlyaev, Valentin Zubkov and Evgeniy Zharikov in this Soviet war movie told from the perspective of a young scout who the officers try to shield from death.

Tarkovsky’s first is one of his most accessible. Almost the antithesis of Come And See in that this tries to avoid the horrors of war. No battle sequences or heroics are depicted. This all takes place in the inbetween and downtime. Yet the endless threat of death is there, just not the dehumanisation. Simple yet less brutal. The ending is a gut punch in many ways. The perfect black and white cinematography by Vadim Yusov is ethereal. He conjures up wonderful poetic moments in darkness and mists.

7

Perfect Double Bill: The Sacrifice (1986)

You can follow me on Letterboxd here https://letterboxd.com/BobbyCarroll