One to watch

Rating: 8/10 (29 February 2012)

Set at the Russian front(and heck, a little of that is actually spoken, and some of the cast appear to be from there), during WW2. The decorated platoon leader Rolf Steiner(Coburn) gets on the nerves of newly arrived Prussian upper class-raised coward Captain Stransky, who is hungry for an Iron Cross, the highest honor that could be bestowed upon a member of the German army back then. This is in part about the deceit the latter engages in, as well as the situation the soldiers there were in... as they try to maintain their humanity, the will to live and hope. It goes into the psychological damage done by armed conflict, and gives a genuine sense of what actual combat is like(and hammers home the point that it affects *everyone*). At any moment, an explosion or enemy charge could occur. The battle scenes are chaotic, overwhelming and disorienting. It is highly realistic. This is in the spirit of All Quiet on the Western Front, and is a fantastic anti-war film. The tension is thick, such as the early scene of an officer attempting to subtly root out a homosexual. While not much time is devoted to individual characters(there are too many for that to be feasible), they all have personality and are developed. The acting is great, especially by the leads, and names like David Warner. Dialog isn't bad. It gets somewhat overly poetic at times, which feels out of place. The FX are very well done. Editing and cinematography are highly impressive. There are some unforgettable surreal, dreamlike bits once our hero finds himself in a hospital. From the creepy opening to the equally eery ending, this is 125 minutes. There is a lot of bloody, violent and disturbing content(including rape), some grotesque sequences and details and a little female nudity(all but full frontal) and mild to moderate language in this. I recommend this to everyone mature enough to appreciate it. 8/10