We’re just minutes into Tobias Lindholm’s A War when the first IED explodes in a heretofore tranquil stretch of desert in Afghanistan. The 21-year-old soldier struck by the device dies moments later, leaving his fellow-troops shaken, grieving and enraged — questioning the direction of their mission, fighting a deluge of tears and snot, asserting that they’re not cut out for … [Read more...]
Brutal, unsentimental ‘Son of Saul’ makes powerful impact without tears
Son of Saul is a symphony of genocide in surround-sound. Trucks heave and chug, carrying the cargo of lives soon to be incinerated. Death machines hiss and pound and whir, and metal scrapes metal. Gunfire and bombs resound from the very near distance. Dogs bark at everything. There are wails, protests and prayers in Yiddish that are untranslated, because why bother? The … [Read more...]