What several reviewers miss

Several of the reviews I've read miss one of the main twists in this film: they're only on maneuvers! In other words, it's only an exercise and not real combat. This means that the trial is taking place not because actual lives were lost, but because they take the mere principle of readiness for war and utter devotion to state just that seriously. It makes the message all the more hegemonic.

I saw one reviewer puzzled over the fact that the Soviets weren't at war at this time, and two other reviewers mistakenly thought there was an element of fantasy in the trial, assumedly because they thought the killed soldiers had "come back to life."