Overview
Set in Nazi-occupied Belarus in 1943, teenager Flyora (Alexei Kravchenko) enthusiastically joins up with the Soviet partisans who have turned up in his village as German soldiers approach.
What follows is not a glorified, heroic crusade of good against evil, but a complete immersion into the dehumanizing nightmare of war. Witnessing one atrocity after another, Flyora’s boyish face ages and wrinkles before our eyes, his hair turning grey with shock. Klimov famously used live ammunition on set, which perhaps intensified the look of abject terror on the face of the young actor. “I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.” With a title inspired by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Klimov’s final work – and his masterpiece – is the most horrifying anti-war film ever made. Ranked joint 104th in the 2022 Sight and Sound Great Films of All Time poll
Related
Red Angel Red Angel
Drama 1966 95 mins Director: Yasuzo Masumura
A potent and blood-soaked tale of saints and sinners set at the height of the Sino-Japanese war.
From Hilde, with Love From Hilde, with Love
Historical drama 2023 124 mins Director: Andreas Dresen
A powerful historical drama inspired by the true story of the Red Orchestra Nazi-resistance group and two courageous resistance fighters.
84 Charlie MoPic 84 Charlie MoPic
War 1989 91 mins Director: Patrick Duncan
Cult 'found footage' war film following a Vietnam patrol unit from the perspective of an embedded combat cameraman.
Two Women Two Women
War 1960 100 mins Director: Vittorio De Sica
Sophia Loren won an Oscar® for her performance as a mother trying to protect her daughter in wartime Italy, in Vittorio De Sica's neorealist classic.
Eastern Condors Eastern Condors
Crime 1987 98 mins Director: Sammo Hung Kam-bo
A high-kicking tribute to The Dirty Dozen, which sees ten convicts offered amnesty if they undertake a deadly mission behind enemy lines.
The Last Metro The Last Metro
Romance 1979 132 mins Director: François Truffaut
Catherine Deneuve shines as the director and lead actor of a Parisian theatre struggling to survive under the Nazi occupation in Truffaut's wartime drama.
Pharaoh Pharaoh
Historical drama 1965 146 mins Director: Jerzy Kawalerowicz
Dazzling epic, in which the young Pharaoh Ramses XIII clashes with Egypt's clergy over influence on the affairs of the state and its coffers.
Desire: The Carl Craig Story Desire: The Carl Craig Story
Documentary 2024 91 mins Director: Jean-Cosme Delaloye
An intimate portrait of legendary techno producer, DJ and record label creator Carl Craig and an ode to his beloved city, Detroit.
Je t'aime, je t'aime Je t'aime, je t'aime
Drama 1968 95 mins Director: Alain Resnais
A mysterious time-travel experiment becomes a warped voyage through memory, in this mesmerising sci-fi from acclaimed director Alain Resnais.
La Reine Margot La Reine Margot
Historical drama 1994 158 mins Director: Patrice Chéreau
Sumptuous historical drama starring Isabelle Adjani and Daniel Auteuil; a thunderous yarn full of dastardly plots, familial hatred and perverse desire
Scrubbers Scrubbers
Drama 1982 93 mins Director: Mai Zetterling
1980s borstal drama – billed as the female Scum – featuring Amanda York and Kathy Burke as inmates in a ruthless women’s prison.
Mona Lisa Mona Lisa
Gangster 1986 100 mins Director: Neil Jordan
An ungainly cockney chauffeur navigates the seedy streets of London, gradually falling for the elegant and mysterious prostitute who is his passenger.