Gritty And Realistic

Rating: 9/10 (20 July 2002)

A great piece of work by director Stanley Kubrick, its only weakness being that it comes across a little too obviously as a piece of anti-war and anti-military propaganda (not that there's anything wrong with that, but I really don't care for being too openly preached at in the course of a movie.)
That is, however, the only weakness one could identify with this movie. Kirk Douglas put on a fabulous performance as Colonel Dax, a French Army officer during the First World War, whose troops are ordered to launch an impossible attack on a German position by their commander, General Broullard (Adolphe Menjou), only to then see three of the soldiers arrested as examples and subjected to a court martial for cowardice - defended by Dax - because the impossible attack failed.
The portrayal of the upper echelons of the military is not flattering. Broullard (although making frequent visits to the trenches) has little compassion for his men, treating projected casualty estimates as if they were, indeed, nothing more than numbers on a piece of paper. Death in battle is portrayed by virtually all the generals we're introduced to as a glorious thing, with even unjust executions being justified as necessary to build the morale of the remaining soldiers. The best line of the entire movie was spoken by Dax, who - after being subjected to one of those ridiculous arguments about how noble executions are - asks General Miraud (George Macready) "do you really believe all that nonsense?"
The soldiers in the trenches are treated with respect by Kubrick, whose clear bias is against the decision-makers. Dax comes across in the film as the only truly noble officer, who really cares about his men and about justice and who despises the military caste for its insensitivity, corruption and just plain stupidity. (This being accounted for by Dax being a famous criminal lawyer in civilian life, rather than a career officer.) In fact, Dax is so noble that in the end General Miraud can't understand that everything Dax did was because he believed in it; Miraud preferring to believe that Dax was simply out for Broullard's command, and then dismissing him when he discovers that Dax is an honest man as a simple "idealist." The clear message is simple: there's no room for idealists in the military.
It's a well filmed movie; gritty in its realism. The trench scenes come across as believable, and the court martial scenes are compelling in their absurdity. All in all, an excellent film.
9/10