Haunting ending

Rating: Null/10 (5 January 2004)

Easily one of the most gripping, realistic interpretations of the horror of modern combat. Also a rarity, an American anti-war film told by German soldiers. While some of the dialogue is bad, and mixed with early-sound film distortion, the graphic and vivid scenes really bring out the horror and make you feel sympathy for all involved. I desperately wish to find a cleaned-up DVD copy of this film that will due it justice. Some of the dialogue, mind you, is inspired, and stands the test of time - Soldiers mulling over just how a war starts ("One country offends another country"..."How can a mountain in Germany offend a field in England?")
(Spoilers within) The scenes in this film are some of the most famous in movie history - a machine gun's view of the carnage, indescriminitely mowing down hundreds and hundreds of soldiers who drop dead six feet in front of the camera, soldiers ceasing to exist after a shell hit (all that remains, in one case, are the soldier's hands, clutching a strand of barbed wire). The battlefields are miles of muddy, shell-cratered wasteland, the soldiers too numerous to count. The ending is definitely one of the top 3 movie endings of all time in terms of emotional power. The main character reaches for a butterfly that lands near him, the only object of beauty he's seen in a long while. When he leaves his cover to reach the butterfly a sniper takes careful aim and fires. The hand goes limp. Cut to a line of young, scared recruits marching off to war, randomly turning a fearful face to the camera, set against an endless backdrop of crosses stretching across the mud to the horizon.