Cross of perfection.

Rating: Null/10 (20 August 2011)

I discovered this masterpiece twenty years ago. It is for me the best war film ever, with of course Das Boat and The Bridge, which both show the German point of view...This feature, unlike many other craps, doesn't invite you to think this or that, as if you were an idiot; for instance the bad Germans - or Russians - vs the good...
This movie shows you things you perhaps had never seen before, and after that, you can make your own conclusion, your own analysis. See what I mean? I like films that make you think afterwards, many months after you saw them. And not necessarily during the film, as for instance INCEPTION. Sophisticated movies for intellectuals. But that's another comment. And another kind of film too.
Back to CROSS OF IRON, this feature makes me think of Robert Aldrich's ATTACK, where an officer - Eddie Albert in Aldrich's film - is ready to anything to get his bravery medal, even if he is a coward. Maximilien Schell gives here a very close performance in Peckinpah's film. No one seems to have talked about ATTACK when commenting CROSS OF IRON. So, I do it.