Über depressing.

Rating: 8/10 (11 January 2013)

"Cross of Iron" is a seriously depressing war film. And, considering that it's supposed to be set on the Eastern Front during WWII, it SHOULD be an incredibly depressing film! So, although I don't like all the blood and gore, it was appropriate to the time and place. Yes, you will see soldiers with limbs blown off, corpses being run over by tanks and blood, blood, blood. All this can be forgiven, though I have NEVER thought director Peckinpah's slow-motion scenes were particularly good--just indulgent. But, compared to the usually sanitized war films, this one is superior in this sense.
The story is about a particularly indestructible German soldier named Steiner (James Coburn). He has just been promoted to sergeant and the infantry men serving with him love him and look to him for leadership. However, quite the opposite is Captain Stransky--a cowardly officer whose only goal is to get himself an Iron Cross. And, it seems to gall him that Steiner has one and he does not. So, in order to 'earn' one, Stransky pretends that he was responsible for a brave act--one he never committed. Now, the only man who can contradict his fake story is Steiner--who knows the Captain was no where to be seen when they were being attacked.
While this is the main story, the film only focuses on this a bit, Mostly, it focuses on Steiner and his men as they attempt to make it back to their lines after the troops are overrun by the Russians. It all makes for a very tense and realistic story. Depressing and fatalistic, that's for sure--but very effective in conveying the hell that this war was for both the Germans and Russians. And, it's a rare film in that it is shown from the German point of view. The bottom line is that if you want to see realism and feel really, really depressed, this film is for you.
By the way, although the mood of the Front is pretty accurately portrayed, crazed purists will notice a few anachronisms here and there. The worst I noticed were American Corsair fighters dropping bombs on German troops. While the Americans did send a few planes to the Russians, they were all rather obsolete (such as the P-39s). The Corsair, at the time, was possibly the best fighter plane in the world and you NEVER would have seen them in the Soviet Union--only in the Pacific.