Great acting saves it from becoming an exercise in photography

Rating: Null/10 (7 May 2001)

I enjoyed this film much more than I expected to, and that was largely due to the high standard of the acting. It's true that some of the accents were poor - especially John Hurt, who veered between upper-class English and some kind of anonymous Mediterranean dialect. That aside, all the main characters were convincing. I particularly liked Christian Bale and Penelope Cruz. David Morrissey as the young German officer also showed why he is hammering on the door of stardom. This film had nearly everything - humour, pathos, violence and sex, plus beautiful scenery. However, it began to drag towards the end, and I found the denouement totally unconvincing. But, as modern films go, it was pretty good. I think it will go down as a minor classic.