hecktimothy
If you're looking for a school-book view of WW2, this is the wrong film for you. However, this extremely low-budget ($15k!) debut by 22-year-old Alessandro Pepe (who also composed the soundtrack) succeeds on its own terms, which is simply to present the war as (selectively?) remembered by some SS combat veterans, which it does magnificently. Yes, the result is airbrushed: on a trivial level, everyone is clean, healthy, and wears new clothes, even in 1944; more seriously, the war crimes depicted are routine -- shooting prisoners in the heat of battle, done by both sides, which of course seems to deny the massacres of civilians and genocide that were only committed by the Germans.Clumsy expository sections tacked on at the start and end of the film don't really help, but I think the director is sincere in his wish to be true to the subjective experience of these soldiers, something he manages with exceptional maturity (which, unfortunately, only makes the weakness of the closing voice-over more blatant.)I think Pepe should be given full credit for his remarkable achievement, and allowed a little leeway on not covering all bases.However, for balance, ALSO watch the following:> Son of Saul by László Nemes> Come and See by Elem Klimov> Stalingrad by Joseph VilsmaierAnd for bonus points:> In the Fog by Sergei Loznitsa> Lore by Cate Shortland> The Garden of the Finzi-Continis by Vittorio De Sica
wubbs-52324
What a joke of a movie. Poor production, the most apologist German thing I've ever seen. I am a student of WWII. The atrocities committed by the Germans in Russia are glossed over in the guise of one man losing his faith in ultimate victory. Its all patriotic nonsense when the principles knew they were losing, and they knew why. Highlights are American atrocities when their group is transferred to the west. A few of those certainly happened, but comical compared to German activity in the east. There's just nothing good to say about this film.
garciamd-17986
This director "Pepe" made just this movie, and that's enough to ask him to stop making films. the is no story at all, actors perform very bad, war scenes are cheesy, infantile, and the starting speech is just ridiculous (who wrote? Coelho?) rigid language, bored dialogues. in the pre WWII era Rifensthal made "triumph of the will" this a lean imitation, the work of a mediocre apprentice.
mrZillion
I am amazed of the large amount of low ratings. This is not a Hollywood movie and I do admit some dialogues could have been better acted. But it is refreshing to see an attempt to view the war from the side of the Waffen SS. I was not bored and the fighting scenes may not be spectacular, but they are there and I did not get bored or annoyed. I did not feel at all that this movie was meant to glorify the Waffen SS or The Third Reich.
AD
