"Dolu" is a precise vision of how little war has changed in spite of high-tech equipment and extensive vocabulary of modern tactics.
The movie is single-minded in its purpose. It wants to record as accurately as possible what it was like to be one of the soldiers under fire on that mission. Hour by hour, step by step, it reconstructs the chain of events.
The director Elkhan Jafarov avoids the bright colors of upbeat combat movies, and its drab, dusty tones gradually drain of light as night falls. The later scenes of the movie feel chilly and forlorn; the surrounded troops are alone and endangered in the night.
For all of its gritty war action, the film's characters remain passionate, but its patriotic ending fails to mitigate the military incompetence on display.
Films like this are more useful than gung-ho capers like "Behind Enemy Lines." They help audiences understand and sympathize with the actual experiences of combat troops, instead of trivializing them into entertainments.
