Sheptiko uses the people and the surroundings to illustrate a dichotomy between beautiful and ugly with political and religious undertones. The beauty of the snow, but the consequences that the soldiers and families have to suffer in their surroundings. The snow also helps to enforce black and white coloring; there is no grey in this film. People and things are either good or bad, or communists, or partisans. The contrast of the surroundings help to further the theme of contrasting divides. The religious undertones display how religion is still prevalent in a war zone. Religious figures such as the scene when the soldiers are holding each other, which is a recreation of pieta. Pieta is an Italian sculpture of the weeping Virgin Mary holding
