"Rumours abound that director Elem Klimov used hypnosis on his fledgling actor Aleksei Kravchencko, the twisted soul of his story, to extract the emotional, even existential, shock of reaction to unknowable things. Whatever the case, it must stand as one of the greatest child performances. Through a series of intense close-ups, reactionary shots to death’s myriad forms, Kravchencko’s face is a map of terror and incipient madness, but there is a gradual closing up, a sealing off from horror."
