Ballade vom kleinen Soldaten

Such smiles as that on the face of the young boy at the start of the film are more common than one may expect of a film on genocide. In many ways, war for these children is play. While one cannot help but agree with Reichle that these children are brainwashed, it is also evident that they are not simple puppets. They have been wronged - parents and siblings brutally murdered - and they seek justice, but are blinded by their innocence to the full horrors of what may come.