Straw Soldiers

Rating: Null/10 (27 June 2017)

The title here refers to the Iron Cross, a German medal for bravery, as the story focuses on one Nazi officer so set on achieving the titular medal that he recklessly puts the safety of his platoon, behind Russian enemy lines, into danger. Maximilian Schell is solid as always as the self-interested commander in question, though he is ultimately a supporting character here as the film is told from the prospective of a recently promoted sergeant in his platoon, played by James Coburn. The storyline is a little messy and comes off as more a series of episodes than a coherent narrative, and yet this chaos is somewhat appropriate for a movie about the madness of war. Memorable elements include Coburn warming to a Russian orphan who he takes back to his bunker, a couple of a latent homosexual soldiers facing off with Schell and a terrific sequence in which Coburn hallucinates while being nursed in hospital, with an excellent editing design perfectly capturing his confused state of mind. The film features a lot of quotable dialogue too and there is something to say for the film's uniqueness in showing the German side of things without demonising (all of) them. One does have to tolerate a lot of Sam Peckinpah's trademark quirks here - most notably, excessive slow motion shots - but the overall movie leaves an indelible impression, chaotic and frenzied as it may be.