Paths of Glory

Rating: 10/10 (4 February 2007)

This is the first time I've left a comment on this website, but I felt I had to with regard to Kubrick's Paths Of Glory; perhaps I'm being manipulated by polemical film-making, but nevertheless this is an absolutely stunning piece of cinema! From the opening to the ending, I was completely gripped by what I was watching on screen; in terms of 'you-are-there' war-reality, then the combat scenes in this film stand parallel to All Quiet On the Western Front, Stalingrad, Saving Private Ryan etc. There are echoes of Kubrick's later Full Metal Jacket at one point, and the generally anti-war, pacifist message in the film is certainly a powerful one that emotionally involves the spectator. Halliwell's Film Guide describes this as 'overpowering cinema', and I couldn't agree more; for the time this film was made, I don't think it could have been realised any more effectively! If you feel sympathy for the lot of the common man who is caught up in the madness of the war-machine, then this is a film for you! Highly recommended...