Powerful Second World War Drama Presented From The Losing Side

Rating: 7/10 (8 May 2005)

In 1943, the German front is retreating from the Taman' Peninsula on the Black Sea. Enter Captain Stransky, an ambitious Prussian aristocratic officer, who aims to win himself the Iron Cross. However, his plans are stymied by Corporal Steiner, an implacable but battle-weary platoon leader, who sees no glory in medals. Meanwhile, the Russians are advancing ever closer ...
There are very few Second World War films featuring Germans as the protagonists, and the ones that do are often amongst the best. This is a great, bloody, primal scream of a war film; bitter, cynical, heart-breaking, vicious and completely devoid of sentiment. There is no honour, no morality, only drudgery, fear and loathing. The soldiers' only loyalties are to each other and to staying alive, not to their leaders or their country, and the commissioned officers care only for their own rank and power. Steiner, a brilliant and decorated leader, has an astounding speech where he reveals his unrepenting hatred for all officers and for the wehrmacht - it is an incredible moment of resentment against anyone who would pursue a military agenda or attempt to glorify warfare. The cast are excellent, particularly Warner as the philosophical Captain Kiesel and Loewitsch as Kruger, the platoon second-in-command. The action is brilliantly photographed by John Coquillon (the explosion-filled battle scenes were shot in Yugoslavia), and features Peckinpah's trademark brilliant editing, all jump-cut shots from different times and scenes interspersed with amazingly unsettling effect. Written by Walter Kelley, James Hamilton and Julius Epstein (the screenwriter of Casablanca), from the book Das Fleisch Bereitwillig by Willi Heinrich, this Anglo-German coproduction by a truly great maverick director is one of the most powerful war films ever made.