Brutal but heartfelt War Drama

Rating: 9/10 (1 December 2016)

"In a world so set on tearing itself apart it doesn't seem to me like such a bad thing to want to put a little bit of it back together." This film pulls you in within the first few minutes with brutal shots of battle in dramatic slow motion to a haunting score, which I can say now was the perfect preview of what was to come later in the movie. Andrew Garfield's character is introduced to the audience as a simple minded but well meaning, all around smiley, adorable young man. When we get farther into the movie we see the depth of his bravery and his values, and Garfield did this wonderfully. We felt the fear and the need to protect, the grief and the struggle to get people to listen, and the frustration when they refused to. I could sing my praises for this performance all day long. Shot in a two act format, that deviates from the standard three act formula, the first act is bright and happy with a bit of cloudiness, like one half of a yin yang, the other the opposite half, so they fit together quite nicely. This movie is brutal in its battle scenes. It is intense and merciless. I cannot emphasize this enough. Before our boys go into battle, we are introduced to them enough that you learn their complexities and loveliness and confusion for what is right; You fall in love with them a little. Therefore, it is so shocking when they enter the battlefield and you see young men getting blown to bits or shot through the back of the head with less than a second of screen time. There is no denying this is a fantastic movie, but the violence was a bit much for me. I only recommend knowing what you're getting into. A story about course and innovation and a desire to serve, this is the epitome of a Hero story with a capital H.