This war movie has a motif, which explains the way it is written and directed.
The motif is the apparent necessity to abandon humanity in combat situations.
However, we get an ironic twist on that in the end.
Two things a lot of the "Hollywood formula" lovers won't like. First, the lack of the contrived negativity in which bullets can only find characters with which you can relate. Here, it's more of a "the cards fall where the cards fall". Nothing is contrived. It has a very natural effect, and is totally iconoclastic to what has been the Hollywood formula since the mid 1960s.
Second, a lot of people won't like the low budget look, although it isn't a terribly low budget look. The movie just operates more on the principle of characters and motivations than on special effects. And that is what makes this a good war movie.
The motif is the apparent necessity to abandon humanity in combat situations.
However, we get an ironic twist on that in the end.
Two things a lot of the "Hollywood formula" lovers won't like. First, the lack of the contrived negativity in which bullets can only find characters with which you can relate. Here, it's more of a "the cards fall where the cards fall". Nothing is contrived. It has a very natural effect, and is totally iconoclastic to what has been the Hollywood formula since the mid 1960s.
Second, a lot of people won't like the low budget look, although it isn't a terribly low budget look. The movie just operates more on the principle of characters and motivations than on special effects. And that is what makes this a good war movie.