an early predecessor to Saving Private Ryan

Rating: 8/10 (27 September 1998)

Many things led up to the creation of the movie Saving Private Ryan, which for some reason seems to have become _the_ realistic movie about the Second World War. Cross of Iron, whether Spielberg has seen it or not, is definitely one of those things that laid the groundwork for realistic movies about the most destructive war in history. Cross of Iron is an early attempt to tell a tale of German soldiers in World War Two, and tell it realistically, or as close to reality as could be achieved. Based on a book written by, I believe, a German soldier who was on the Eastern Front, the movie tells the story of a veteran platoon of German soldiers and their decorated leader, Sgt. Steiner. Taking place on the Eastern Front in the closing years of the war, the movie is gritty and violent. The viewer gets a glimpse of the conditions the soldiers had to endure, as well as the stress from the constant death and depravity all around. Unlike Ryan, which almost cheerily displays the gory horrors of war, the impact here is more subtle. Visual horrors like gore, dismemberment and such are present but not overbearing. Surrealism forms a strong theme in the movie, and it does end very strangely. Overall, a good effort to tell a realistic story about a subject matter normally glossed over.