I'd like to make it very clear that I seldom rate any film a 10. IMDB is awash with 10's that have little originality and are complete nonsense ratings. 10 should ALWAYS be reserved for films which are unique and outstanding. Now I know that is rather a vague definition but for me, at the end of the day a '10' has got to be reserved in order to maintain some modicum of rating integrity.
This film took me on a quite unexpected journey; From an apparantly innocent private just trying to etch out some degree of respite and dignity from the chaos of war, to a shakespearean like or perhaps more fittingly Conrad-like descent into the depths of desperation, depravity and moral absence. The film has so many layers and aspects of what human beings are capable of under extreme conditions; The man who chooses to take his own life, immediately juxtaposed by his friend who proceeds to take the lives of others in the hope of extending his own until the next appalling moral dilemma is presented. (too many to go into here). There is so much I could say about this film but will just end on one particularly high impact scene that at least for me, represented both the darkness of nature, and that of human nature: Towards the end of the film, the protagonist comes across skeletal remains in a forest. One particular artistic cinematic shot renders the remains in such a way that they appear to have oozed out, or been thrown out, by the dark mouth of the forest, the forest clearly being a metaphor for the dark power of nature that has no moral measure; it just, is.
