Notes

Przepraszam, że nie są alfabetycznie

* WarIsHell: The film is based on [[Creator/FranciscoDeGoya Goya's]] paintings about this theme. The very first scene doesn't beat the bush about it either, with the little girl rummaging through burning ruins.
* TheCorruptible: [[spoiler: Biniek overhears how much money Ivanov propose for the tape]] and thus, the seed is planted...
* OnlyInItForTheMoney: The Polish merc figthing for whoever pays best. Keller can barely keep himself from shooting the scum ''he just rescued from a lynch''.
* ForTheEvulz: Skija and his band are explicitly noted as doing the whole RapePillageAndBurn for their own amusement.
* TorchesAndPitchforks: The opening has an angry crowd preparing to execute without a trial captured milita. Thing is - ''the crowd is right'' and those guys deserve their punishment.
* SleazyPolitician: Ivanov, which is even invoked vetbatim by Cichy
* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler: Mas has barely any spoken lines and all we ever learn about him is that he wanted to buy his kids a husky dog with the money earned from the mission, which is only brought up posthumously.
* RareGuns: Both in and out of universe
** Keller is carrying a revolver as his side arms. Polish officers are highly unlikely to carry their personal, private gun, not to mention taking them into a sortie.
** Said revolver is Rossi 971, a Brazilian .357 Magnum with a snub nose - a ''very'' rare gun to end up in Europe, not to mention Poland and[=/=]or Balkans during the 90s.
* ColdSniper: Cichy, who barely emotes throughout the whole film.
* Meaningful name:
** Cichy, which means "Quiet". A very fitting nickname for a ColdSniper.
** Houdini, who is the company's TheScrounger
* MilitaryMaverick: Keller's main characteristic is his utter disregard for HQ commands. [[RealityEnsues The film opens with him being discharged for his insubordination]]. He's also a massive deconstruction of the archetype, with all the pitfalls of such behaviour from a commander and ultimately his decisions and actions eventually lead to [[spoiler: getting most of his squad killed]].
* AFatherToHisMen:
** Keller is ordered to stand down when a chopper carrying his men is shot down over enemy territory. In response, he gets volunteers from his unit, takes whole responsibility for the mission (while already being in the process of being discharged from command for his unsobordination) and goes into combat himself to find his men or at least bring their bodies back.
** Then again, he [[spoiler: let his own men get high as kites in Syria, so they've stepped on mines. It is suggested he did that on purpose, first allowing them to get scot-free on drug possession and then just setting them up to die during a patrol]].
* ArmyOfThievesAndWhores: Skija's outfit can barely be even called militia. Doesn't make them any less dangerous.
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Invoked few times by various characters. Keller rescues Nicole from being chain-raped.
* ChekhovGun:
** The PornStash.
** The tape with [[spoiler: executions]].
** The action takes place in the tail end of February '96, [[spoiler: which was a leap year]].
* ChekhovGunman:
** The mercenary from the opening scene cames back later to bite Keller's ass
** Cichy [[IncrediblyLamePun stays silent]] for all the time just to drop the bomb upon Keller's arrest that it's [[spoiler: 29th February and Keller is still legally in command for next 24 hours]].
* ItsNotCheatingIfYouAreNotCaught: Houdini smugly invokes this verbatim to Biniek when being searched for illegal contraband.
* FrontlineGeneral: The squad comes with TWO majors. Usually such force is commanded by single lieutenant. Majors meanwhile command companies, a 100+ group of men.
* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Czacki and Kusz go for the mission only to arrest Keller on 1st of March, when his command is over.
* DeskJockey[=/=]EnsignNewbie: Czacki is military prosecutor with zero combat experience.
* LeaveNoSurvivors: [[ColdSniper Cichy]]'s solution after flanking part of Skija's group. He gives a strange look to Czacki when he's reluctant to shoot
* PrecisionFstrike: ''Two'', both notably harsh in original Polish.
** -->'''Keller (when Czacki tries to be an ObstructiveBureaucrat):''' Mr Prosecutor, get the fuck out.
"Panie prokuratorze, niech pan spierdala"
** For a movie dropping ClusterFBomb in every other scene, one particular is a true bomb from Cichy (a plutonowy, which is NATO's OR-4) to Czacki (lieutenant), skipping all the proper wording and adressing the officer. This is one of two moments when Cichy emotes throughout the entire story.
-->'''Czacki''' (being ordered by Kusz to shoot InTheBack three men): I screw orders like that...
-->'''Cichy''' (suddenly getting angry): Screw what you want, but kill them first, or we won't get out of this forest.
- Pierdol co chcesz, ale zastrzel ich bo nie wyjdziemy z tego lasu
* CombatPragmatist: cichy, who casually assigns targets to Czacki, an EnsignNewbie, based on his lack of skill and proablilty of hitting. He has nothing against shooting people InTheBack and killing in general, being completely unphased by combat.
-->'''Czacki''': Why I'm supposed to shoot [those] three people?!
-->'''Cichy'''' (nonchalantly): You won't hit the other ones, sir.
* AcceptableLoss: Czacki is sent to investigate a strange movement in a bush. When Keller is asked about his choice, he simply invokes Czacki's status as EnsignNewbie.
* LawfulStupid: Invoked as a main liability ''AND VALOUR'' of Czacki, when he's handled the conspicious tape for storage.
-->'''Keller''': Lieutenant, you are the most stupid and most honest. Guard it with your life, sir.
* BrothersInArms: Literal case with [[SiblingTeam Boruń brothers]].
* TheDanza: Ewa Drzyzga, back then a well-known journalist, playing herself as a news reporter.
* FakeNationality: Nicole is played by Aleksandra Nieśpielak, a Polish actress. Few of Skija's men are played by Polish extras.
* HeroicBSOD: Johnny's breakdown after being caught in a firefight, watching Max being shot and Boruń badly wounded.
* TakeAHoldOfYourselfMan: ''THE'' most iconic scene of the film is Keller's chewing Johnny for his breakdown
-->'''Keller''': This is not a water gun. You will kill or be killed.
* VerbalTick: Johnny's constant "man"
* ManlyTears: Plenty of it
** Johnny is in complete mess after Max dies and they are stranded behind enemy lines.
** [[spoiler: When Boruń dies, Bor does his very best to pretend he just has something in his eyes]].
** In the final monolougue Houdini can't hold his tears.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: With all his problems, Keller is still a competent officer
* CaliforniaDubbing: Mostly filmed in Polish Tatra mountains, which shows at times if you are familiar with them. The base is located next to Ogrodzieniec Castle, one of the most famous and iconic castle ruins in Poland.
* CharacterEstablishingScene: Houdini got one at the airport, hauling contrabanda and a huge PornStash in the middle of ''taking his new CO and a military prosecutor'' from the plane to nearby military base. And having guts and cunning to not only explain himself, but also make it look like an innocent thing.
* SoldierInTheRear: Houdini is a logistic's assistant and ''very'' proud of it.
* OutOfContextVillainy: Keller prevents a lynch on bunch of (guilty as hell) mercs. To stop the mob he orders Cichy to "silence them", so Cichy opens fire in the air over the crowd. It's put under investigation as opening fire to civilians and massive breach of conduct.
* StealthPun: LostInTranslation, but still:
-->'''Keller''': A thunder can strike from the sky
Może uderzyć GROM z jasnego nieba.
It's a pun on both idiom and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JW_GROM GROM special forces unit]].
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: This film SCREAMS about Polish mid-90s. Gratitous amount of ProductPlacement also helps - most of those brands were popular back then and cease to by the end of the decade.
* ProductPlacement: And HOW! The most blatant one is the long shot on pack of West cigaretts and this line
-->Soldier in the casino: Take Źrodlana, it doesn't give a hangover
- Weź Źródlaną, po niej się nie ma kaca
* Deconstruction: Of MilitaryMaveric guy. Despite being competent commander, Keller performs an unauthorised mission that [[spoiler: gets 7 men killed, chopper destroyed, leaves two injured and on top of it all, facing a ''DOUBLE'' trial in county for insubordination. Bringing back the tape with execution is just not enough to justify any of this]].
* CantFightFate: Boruń could have stayed in the base and is repeatively asked by various characters to do so.
* SecondInCommand: Ziarno pretends to be reasonable bureaucrat, but in reality fully supports Keller and just plays a role
* TechnicallyRight: Keller is from Blue Cross, thus is under an obligation to save and rescue people in mountains. Never mind he's stationed in Zakopane, Poland and they are in Bosnia.
* FastRoping: From a transport chopper!
* NothingButUsBirds: Keller quickly realises something is up, while they are ''genuine'' bird calling
* OhCrap: Keller's face after realising above
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Cichy is visibly scared when they are pinned down in the mountain hut. Probably the only time when he shows any real emotions.
* RuleOfThree: Keller and the mercenary meet three times. First time Keller get rid of the merc [[CruelMercy by punching him off a bridge]], second time the merc decks Keller right after explaining he will go to burn down the hovel the soldiers stationed for a night. And on the third encounter [[spoiler: Keller empties entire magazine into merc's chest]].
* TheChick: Quite a few. We have [[HeroicBDSO Johnny]], [[SoldierInTheRear Houdini]] and [[ScreamingWoman Nicole]]
* SpottingTheThread: Kusz realises something is off about [[spoiler: Biniek]] early on, but dismiss his suspicions. [[spoiler: Which allows him to return as TheCavalry and kill the traitor]] in the finale.
* DirtyCoward: The moment he's faced by actual military that has a personal reason to hunt him down, Skija turns tails.
* NoRangeLikePointBlank:
** In the final skirmish, Keller shots one of the merc with a SVD rifle at less than 5 meters. While still carrying his revolver in the holster.
** Justified with Cichy, who [[spoiler: ends up badly wounded]] and can't exactly get his service pistol, so he sticks to his sniper rifle at a distance suitable for a pistol.
* BlownAcrossTheRoom: Final skirmish has two of the Skija's men send flying by gunfire.
* RewatchBonus: Knowing [[spoiler: Biniek is a traitor]] changes meaning of few scenes with him.
* PTSD: Biniek appears to succumb to it in the final skirmish, being paralysed by fear. [[spoiler: He's a traitor, so he simply doesn't want to shoot his new employers]].
* TropeBreaker: One of the important plot points requires from the action to take place [[spoiler: during a leap year and in the final days of February]].
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Bogusław Linda would play in the future a role of a TOPR commander, stationed in Zakopane. You know, Blue Cross.
** Polish players had few extra laughts with Quiet from [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain thanks to [[NamesTheSame Cichy]].
* {{Greed}}: Biniek
* GangstaGrab: The merc holds Keller at gunpoint this way.
* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: Five seconds after [[spoiler: Biniek]] is revealed as traitor, he gets shot in cold blood.
* SmashCut: After Houdini reveals [[spoiler: he switched tapes]], it goes directly to Ivanow playing [[spoiler: the tape with geriatric porn]] to his boss and the Serbians realise how fucked they are now, with the tape still in hands of soldiers.
* SuprisinglyGoodForeignLanguage: Nicole's French, given she's played by Polish actress and not dubbed.
* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler: The chopper crew was murdered when Keller was still en route, making the rescue mission moot]].
* BittersweetEnding: It's literally one step from outright Downer: [[spoiler: Almost entire squad gets killed, Keller is going home with heavy charges that at best get him kicked out of military and at worst end with life sentence, spending his entire flight back to Poland in a plane with him and coffins of his own men; Skija escaped the final skirmish and probably never be caught or put on trial; the village get burned anyway. The only bright spot is the execution tape reaching media and MAYBE ending with the main villains in Hague]]. Maybe.
* GreaterScopeVillain: The Serbian minister
* SideGlance: When dropping a particularly cheesy line how maybe the military uniform stands for something more than just being a soldier, Tadeusz Huk (major Kusz) looks directly at the camera and tilts his head.
"może ten mundur jednak coś znaczy"