Visceral as hell...

Rating: 9/10 (26 February 2015)

Damn... what a great film. Visceral as hell. Last film that made me feel like "war is hell", was Saving Private Ryan.
My Girlfriend is German, born and raised. So, for her the film was an emotional roller coaster, as she speaks German and there are a lot German dialog the film doesn't subtitle that really made it hard for her to watch. If you've seen the film, you'll know which scenes I am talking about.
It's almost anti German in a way. But it isn't...
It almost fell into the trap that most of our American war films of the post 911 era did. The trap where the film makes the USA out to be these bad ass guys that save the world and the enemy the fight, in this case, the bad Germans, deserve to get beat. I felt that the film really came close to being one of those films, almost propaganda in a way, but it didn't. There were moments where I was expecting the film to become that, but in the end, its a story about one crews view of the war through a confined, hot, rumbling metal coffin, surrounded by nothing but the death of friends against an enemy that would not surrender even when the odds were against them. We watch how the war had made Brad Pitt and his veteran tank crew grow cold. They're desensitized and careless about humanity in a way. We see how they've almost become barbarians in a way, and that they themselves, are no better than the enemy they paint as a ruthless killer. There is an interesting scene where we pause from all the death and destruction to watch Brad Pitt try desperately to hold onto what sense of civil morality he has left when he asks a German woman of a town they just liberated, if she would make him eggs. The scene is actually very intense as the film director keeps us on our toes, not knowing what Brad or the woman will do. The introduction of Logan Lerman's character as the new inexperienced support gunner for the crew cemented that dark viewpoint that Pitt's crew has on humanity, as we as an audience got to watch the difference/contrast in mindsets between a tank crew that had been through hell and a young freshman straight out of basic training. His fresh innocence is our viewpoint as we enter into their world. We're riding shotgun with him on this journey.
Great film. Deserves to be seen on the big screen with Atmos surround sound.