Road to the Oscars Watch #11:

War is hell. 

This was totally brutal! The most brutal war film I’ve ever seen, other than the incomparable, “Come & See”! From the opening scenes when they’re collecting the jackets and boots and cleaning them to reuse, you can tell this is a depiction and condemnation of the war machine. After only 20 minutes in and it already felt like I’d been through the ringer. The soundtrack was really cool too. This is impressive filmmaking and fits in well with some of the war movies I actually like. Namely, the aforementioned “Come & See”, “1917”, and “Full Metal Jacket”. This is a great film and definitely one of the best this year, as well as one of the best war movies I’ve ever seen, but I don’t know if it should get Best Picture, now that it be seen all the nominees. It’s a very strong anti-war movie, but it didn’t touch the zeitgeist like “Everything Everywhere All At Once” did. It might be this year’s dark horse, though! Either this or predictably, they could go with “Women Talking”…