Not an anti-war movie-just a movie about the screw-ups in war

Rating: 7/10 (20 April 2007)

A fairly balanced vision of war: advance,retreat,crushing losses and fantastic lucky breaks.A movie which holds up well after 30 years.The battle of Arnhem was a logistical nightmare. Operation Market Gardens was fought in the context of the powerful,daring and terminal assault on Nazi Germany: the June 6,1944 invasion of France, which adds to its irony.This movie is full of sorrow and stupidity and what seems to be a lot of tactical detail which makes it a thrilling work of film.I love this movie despite its minor flaws.The top leaders who engineered this fiasco were in love with a big idea.This movie explores the psychic flaws that led to a bunch of dead men and a whole lot of finger-pointing,and the ultimate feeling of regret felt by me, a viewer.James Caan is powerful as a veteran sergeant with a profound sense of duty to his senior officer. A young and handsome Anthony Hopkins is great as usual.Gene Hackman plays down to the level of his acting-competition as a terse Polish general who sees the flaws in the operation from the beginning.Hackman is better than this.In all, this is a thrilling and well-crafted war film.If you want to understand the war in Iraq, this might be a starting place:Bad Things just happen.