War was portrayed as an impersonal event, wherein a single person has a very slight impact. When opposite sides confronted each other outside of the battlefield they behaved more amicably than one would have expected from their conduct in war. Abdul's daughter is infinitely more sympathetic to the Russian captives than is befitting for an enemy non-combatant. The man that forces Sasha and Ivan to walk through a minefield eventually softens up as well, inviting the men to dance and drink with him, not to mention wrestle, a sure sign of affection. Abdul too is unwilling to consummate his hatred of the Russians. All of these events point to a connectivity on the human level that doesn't mirror the military actions of the respective sides.