Excellent movie, war or otherwise - (possible spoiler)

Rating: 8/10 (5 October 1999)

Maybe the best acting James Coburn has done in his entire career as the soldier who both hates war and can't live without it. He's either crazy or tongue-tied when he's not a part of the war and it brings him his only happiness. But, as he says, he hates all officers, even those who are on his side. David Warner is also excellent in an alarmingly small role.
I was transfixed with Peckinpah's editing in the battle sequences and the hospital scenes - the two are ominously similar. Many directors have borrowed from this style of filming and I can see why. It's confusing, disorienting, and it puts you in the action as one of the characters trying to make sense of it all.
--- POSSIBLE SPOILER!! ---
As for the ending, well... It makes sense in the context of the movie only because of the two ideologies crashing in on Coburn at the same time. Does he realize that he's abandoned everything he's believed in while he laughs hysterically? I would love to discuss the ending of this movie, my e-mail is above.
A clue might be in the photograph that appears like a slide show through the ending credits. We see a German soldier stringing up a prisoner to be hanged in the first shot. Then we see a wider angle view of the picture and realize that this prisoner is stringing up another prisoner at the same time.