War with the emphasis on "raw"

Rating: 10/10 (3 May 2007)

Scanning through some of the (very few) harsh reviews of this film, it's hard to believe that some people who profess to enjoying intelligent, groundbreaking cinema didn't actually like it. My advice: Go rent out a Michael Bay / Bruckheimer film....something like Pearl Harbor. That will be more to your tastes I imagine.
Cross of Iron is the kind of film that scars you mentally. I remember seeing it at a young age on British television in the early 80's, and being totally blown away by it. There are so many visually memorable things about it that stay in your head long after viewing it.....the hypnotic, kinetic camera work, the astonishing, stream-of-consciousness editing style, the grimy, blood, mud & s**t-smeared battlefields that feel almost like the great war rather than WW2.
Of course, great visuals are nothing when they are not married to a great story. The tale is deceptively simple - a recon unit of the Werhmacht is desperately fighting for survival and escape, against the seemingly endless waves of vengeful Russian forces in the immediate aftermath of Stalingrad. The unit is headed by Steiner (James Coburn, never better), a dead-eyed, worn-out Corporal who cares nothing for the Third Reich, the Furher and the army officers, only for his platoon of unwashed, burnt out and cynical troops. His men idolise him for his fearlessness and decisiveness in combat, and as a group they make a deadly and efficient fighting force. The unit is thrown into chaos by the arrival of Captain Stransky (a wonderfully slimy Maximillian Schell), a vain aristocratic officer who is deep down a coward, but is driven forward by his desire to gain an Iron Cross - something which sets him in immediate conflict with Stiener and his unit. Steiner ridicules Stransky's insane desire for a medal as he already has several - "it's just a piece of worthless metal". Stransky however will stop at nothing, even turning on his own forces, to gain an Iron Cross. Thus a deadly circle of sacrifice, mistrust, betrayal, judgement and redemption is set in motion.
The fact that the main protagonists are German and the "villans" (as such) are Russians is the first of many surprises in the film that defy Hollywood convention. It is risk-taking like this that very rarely happens in modern cinema.
As for the performances.....James Coburn's face expresses more in the flicker of an eyebrow and an enigmatic half-smile/half-frown than the likes of Hanks, Affleck, Cage etc could summon over an entire film. The supporting cast are also excellent. Schell is great as the cowardly Captain Stransky. David Warner and James Mason also excel in small but well observed and minutely detailed roles. Steiner's unit is a group of extraordinary actors. Many look as though they have been plucked from a spaghetti western - battered features, grimy unshaved faces, leering faces. Throughout the film there is a real sense of the actors functioning as a "combat unit" - Peckinpah obviously enjoyed being a part of the group and encouraged them to bounce off each other. This is especially evident in the bunker scenes when they are shown not as faceless killing machines but as human soldiers - joking, farting, drinking, at ease. This contrasts sharply when they are on the battlefield, and they become almost animalistic in their struggle to survive.
The battle scenes are truly amazing - the now trademark Peckinpah cross-cutting, slow-motion and multiple points-of-view are evident throughout Watching them now, you can see where the likes of John Woo, James Cameron and definitely Oliver Stone picked up many motifs and ideas.
If you have any serious love for cinema, are jaded by the standard jingoistic bulls**t that Hollywood churns out, and want to discover a film that will stay with you for a long time after you have viewed it, then I recommend that you make the effort to seek this out. If any film deserved the special edition re-issue treatment, this is it.
Stransky: "All right......I accept. I'll show you how a Prussian Officer can fight!!" Steiner: "And I'll show you....where the iron crosses grow!"