Shoulders

With the Lieutenant forced to retrieve the weapons, a maladjusted group of soldiers tries to watch for signs of a predicted attack from the surrounding forest. With a broken radio and no guns, the men focus on finding the ‘field phone’—the only way to inform their Lieutenant back at the nearest port if the enemy has arrived. Left to play make-believe with sticks, and with a mute soldier, Ben, seeing images in the forest, the boys quickly become victims of their surroundings. Teff and Leon fight for leadership, which soon ends with Leon’s dysfunctional temperament making him an outcast from the group, walking off into the forest in just his trousers. That afternoon, while playing target practice, Orlov believes he hears gunfire. Between Ruben’s drug use, Ivan’s poetic tendencies, Getty’s brutality, and Emil’s nonchalant attitude towards the possible signs of war, the remaining group soon loses touch with reality. The situation creates communal stress, and the soldiers conjure a nightmare from their fear of the unknown threat. No longer a group looking for the first signs of war, they become embroiled in a battle they have no choice but to face. In the end, they are left questioning the true nature of the battle, making the enemy feel like something deeply rooted within themselves. ‘The ending is in everything you see’.