why does a movie like this exist? so we internalize this to our core so it never occurs again? the horror of this movie is compounded in knowing that all of this still occurs today with equal brutality.
I've never heard of this but just watched the trailer. It does look harrowing. Two pieces of WTF trivia from the IMDB page:
1. Live ammunition was used during filming. In interviews, Aleksey Kravchenko has described bullets passing 10 centimeters above his head.
2. The director planned to have Aleksey Kravchenko hypnotized by a psychotherapist during the most dreadful and violent scenes so that they wouldn't affect his young mind. However, he turned out not to be susceptible to hypnosis and had to pretend all the way.
I like how they say the hypnosis didn't work so the young actor had to pretend instead of "He was not susceptible to hypnosis and suffered lifelong trauma as a result of filming horrific scenes with live ammunition directed at his head."
Comments
1. Live ammunition was used during filming. In interviews, Aleksey Kravchenko has described bullets passing 10 centimeters above his head.