crazy as it seems

Rating: 8/10 (20 April 2005)

i'm not quite sure why i like this movie, but i do. there are indeed several point within the movie that i can point to and say i like but that doesn't explain why i will usually watch this movie all the way through whenever i pass it by on cable. the world war one scenes are great, and i generally think that world war one is highly under explored in film. (ever since all quiet on the western front in 1930 few movie have done anything but add footnotes to that wonderful film about that terrible war). i also love the scenes near the end with anthony hopkins writing stuff on a chalk board hung around his neck. to me this seems some odd and amusing that it's probably the reason i can't look away. other than that the movie has some major flaws. the Indian character is so clichéd in his behavior and speech, that i'm surprised Indian nations haven't screamed and protested, demanding to be portrayed as savages as they were in early westerns. at the end where the oldest brother (aiden quinn) shoots some gangsters assaulting his family, i'm tempted to remember the scene in godfather where pacino assures brando "i'm with you now papa" 8/10