Os Carabineiros

In a rural shack, two boys are recruited into the army and depart happy with the prospect of great rewards. The horrors of war follow, as the riflemen participate in massacres, humiliations, and plunder with overwhelming indifference. The characters have grand names of mythological heroes—Ulysses and Michelangelo—but they navigate an absurd innocence between everyday acts and violent crimes. Jean-Luc Godard would say in an interview about this film: "What would be unbearable would not be the horror that would transpire from such scenes, but, on the contrary, their perfectly ordinary and human character." In this harsh and raw film, but in a black comedy register, a strong anti-war message stands out.