Kubrick at his best

Rating: 10/10 (28 June 2005)

Kubrick's amalgam of riveting dialog, exquisite black and white photography and peerless acting brings life to Cobb's novel indicting the exploitation of the powerless by the powerful against the backdrop of World War I. By the nature of their work, generals use common soldiers like pawns but in this story the generals employ them with arrogance and disdain. Soldiers pay for their generals' mistakes with their life and limb not only on the battlefield but in the courtroom to save reputations. This is much more than just an anti-war film. The generals could be CEOs. Its about the corruptive influence of ego and power.
Kubrick moves seamlessly from the stark battlefield of the soldier to the the château of the generals. Kirk Douglas as Colonel Dax, the only character to inhabits both worlds has his humanity dismissed as sentimentality by the elitist general. Though enraged by the arrogance of his superiors, the resignation of his soldiers is what scars him. They too if given the choice would prefer to be victimizers rather than victims.
The end scene where a throng of french infantrymen in a beer-hall bully a young German girl into singing, only to fall captive to her simple song is one of the most disarming scenes in movie history.