Greatest war movie portraying Germans

Rating: Null/10 (5 February 1999)

This is one of the greatest war movies ever made, ranking alongside or close to Saving Private Ryan, Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now. It pumps raw emotion and you'll almost cry at the tragedy of a war that consumed so many young men. At one point, it is asked who will rebuild Germany after the war, and as James Mason answers, three soldiers are killed in a hail of bullets, poignantly reminding us of the waste of war. Steiner and his outfit are men fighting for their lives, they would throw away the worthless piece of metal that is the Iron Cross. I found myself having the same amount of sympathy for these men as I did for Hanks' platoon in SPR. It is said that the film ran into production cost trouble but Sam Peckinpah made 5 old tanks look like 50 and the constant hum of Soviet artillery numbs you like it did those soldiers. Peckinpah delves into a kind of psychotic, warped nightmare when Steiner relives some of his memories. The battle scenes are brilliant and it is a truly wonderful study of men at war