A true heart of darkness this documentary painfully depicts a war within a war, when men on the same side turn against each other. It painfully shows the lie that trained killers can be contained and controlled. Instead the films shows that war can lead to a moral numbness where killing of any kind is just a trophy to brag about.
It skillfully shows the conflict and fear of one man faced with the dilemma in doing the right thing as his conscious weights on him yet his instinct for survival pulls against him. Yet this one man is not blameless also partaking in the butchery and murder of unarmed farmers. This is also the skill of the documentary as it leaves you with more questions than answers.
Were all the young farmers killed really innocent? Is Adam Winfield really a victim or a cold blood killer? For sure his mother and father are victims and it's theirs sorrowed surrounding him that makes the film ambiguous, where you can't make out how guilty he really is.
The most chilling scene of the film is where one of the soldiers said, "everyone was doing it we just got caught". A chilling film that is very different to the usual war documentary's where you see shaky cam of soldiers diving for cover as bullets fly over their head. It's also a film that asks you the question what would you do faced with a similar situation. A great documentary that shows the true brutality of war and what it does to the men that fight in it.
It skillfully shows the conflict and fear of one man faced with the dilemma in doing the right thing as his conscious weights on him yet his instinct for survival pulls against him. Yet this one man is not blameless also partaking in the butchery and murder of unarmed farmers. This is also the skill of the documentary as it leaves you with more questions than answers.
Were all the young farmers killed really innocent? Is Adam Winfield really a victim or a cold blood killer? For sure his mother and father are victims and it's theirs sorrowed surrounding him that makes the film ambiguous, where you can't make out how guilty he really is.
The most chilling scene of the film is where one of the soldiers said, "everyone was doing it we just got caught". A chilling film that is very different to the usual war documentary's where you see shaky cam of soldiers diving for cover as bullets fly over their head. It's also a film that asks you the question what would you do faced with a similar situation. A great documentary that shows the true brutality of war and what it does to the men that fight in it.