A Courtroom Drama With A POW Twist

Rating: 9/10 (13 July 2013)

After getting off to a little bit of a slow start, this turns into a pretty good courtroom drama style of movie, set in - of all places - a German POW camp during World War II, when Allied prisoners are given permission to set up a court martial to hold a trial for one of their officers accused of killing an enlisted man.
It is a bit slow starting, and, really, for at least the first hour or so you're assuming that the movie is little more than a depiction of the racism that existed in the US military at the time. In the story, the accused (Lt. Scott, played by Terrence Howard) is black - a shot down captured pilot (one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen.) Although an officer, he's not given a place in the officers' barracks. Instead, he (along with a fellow black pilot also shot down) is sent by the senior POW officer, Col. McNamara (Bruce Willis), to bunk with enlisted men. The enlisted men are none too happy with the arrangement, especially Sgt. Bedford (Cole Hauser), who's openly racist. Also in the same barracks is another officer (Lt. Hart, played by Colin Farrell) who's been banished to the enlisted barracks because McNamara suspects him of breaking under questioning when he was captured and giving information to the Germans. The situation in the barracks is tense. The Germans discover a weapon in the bunk of the second black airman, who's summarily executed. Then, Bedford is found dead, and Scott is the prime suspect. McNamara orders Hart (who's a law student in civilian life) to defend Scott in a court martial.
Until close to the end of the movie, what you think you're seeing is a POW version of a lynching. Evidence that would help Scott is ignored. McNamara seems bent on getting a conviction. The deck is stacked against Hart and Scott. The POW setting made this a little more interesting as a courtroom drama, and it was effective is demonstrating the racism rampant at the time, but for a while I can't say I was getting too much more out of this than I would out of any courtroom drama. But as with most courtroom dramas, this one has twists and turns that arise as the movie approaches its end, and that actually made this a very compelling movie to watch - increasingly so as the end approaches.
I won't go into detail about the twists and turns, but ultimately what you think is a story about racism becomes a story about sacrifice, and giving yourself for the sake of others. By the time it closes it has almost a noble feel to it, and director Gregory Hoblit was effective in making that shift seamlessly. The lead actors were also very good in this. I quite enjoyed it. Although it is, yes, a bit slow off the top, it's nevertheless interesting. Set at the time of the Battle of the Bulge - the German offensive in the Ardennes in December of 1944 - the movie in its opening scenes offers a depiction of Operation Grief, the German plan to infiltrate Allied lines disguised as Allied soldiers, set up checkpoints and misdirect Allied traffic.
This is basically a well-done movie, taking a familiar concept and giving it enough of a twist to make it interesting and even catching the viewer by surprise when you finally realize what's happening. (9/10)