One of the greatest war movies ever is probably "Ballad of a Soldier/Баллада о солдате" (1959). It's a beautiful, heart-breaking film. And it's not difficult to understand at all, as there don't seem to be any specifically "Russian" references -- it's cross-cultural and mostly about the acting and visuals rather than dialogue, politics, etc. There are no battles in the film (except a little piece of action at the beginning). Highly recommended.

On imdb.com -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052600/





I've recently seen Dil Se (From the Heart) (199, which is a very unusual Hindi film. Very realistic, grim and gloomy, both in terms of photography and its subject matter. It's about separatism or, more precisely, about the love of a journalist for a terrorist girl. I didn't even know India had problems with separatists. Can't say I really like this film (I generally prefer something more kind, feel-good, eye-candy, humorous) but it was quite interesting and very well acted. Very artistically done and the music is gorgeous. The "Chaiyya, Chaiyya" song was apparently very popular in the UK. Every time I hear it, I go slightly crazy as it's extremely... er, dunno what the English would be for "зажигательный". It was shot on a moving train. Here it is -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfit3lK_xHs

The film was a box office failure in India (as such films generally tend to be there) but a success overseas. And it was the first Indian film to enter the top 10 in the United Kingdom box office charts.

Dil Se at imdb.com -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164538/