"We're living in a world that's blowing itself to pieces as fast as everybody can arrange it."

Rating: 9/10 (1 August 2019)

I just started a Kubrick Marathon this summer and I chose to start with this film and it was a pleasure to experience such a well-presented anti-war film. Kubric is a filmmaking genius and proves it both with his interesting camera work and with the direction he chooses to talk about war and humanity.

At first,we get to see the uglyiness and unfairness of war even without seeing the Germans, who in this case, are the enemy. We get to see how unfair and ust plain stupid and politicly-driven can a war be by watching an insident in the battlefiled of the French army. The soldiers are acussed of cowerdness but they actually could noto do anything because the attack was impossible.And the commander says that 3 random soliders have to die in order to give a lesson the other soldiers.
The men with the most power are so arrogant and cunning hat only seek for their own good and do not care about the human lives. A life t them means nothing and they do not understand that a human is a being with emotions and wants love and care and is not a robot made to please every higher force.
And there we have Kirk Dougles' character who is the face of ethics and truth. He cares for every singl life of his men and rightably argues to any wrong or immoral decision. He is an unstoppable force and craves for the better.
And then we have the three exceptional performaces of the "guilty" soliders who have been chosen to die for a nonsnese. And it hurts to see young men lose their soles for such a wrong and barbarian order. The monlogue of one of the soldiers about him and the insect that by the time he dies the insect will closer to his wie than him is so true and difficult to swallolw. And all this for a stupid order of a stupid arrogant being.
The ending is pure genius. The soldiers desprately cry by listening to a german singer and their sadness and pain and everything that this war has caused to their soles, their longing of family and peace is depicted through their sad and lost faces. And then Kirk Douglas gives a memorable smile, which as I see it, means that he was definately right form the begining. Humans are humans. They can't like a perfect being because being tired and dizzy and not being able to move on are situatin that we all face. And the tears of these soldiers signify that war damages and poisons are nature. War and these stupid men of power torn human nature apart. Humans are afraid and angry and feel pain. We ain't guns, we have a soul.
Kubrick delivers a film which offers so many ideas about war that it is impossible not to keep thinking about the film. His camera work is provoking and we should cnsder that this is a film made in the 60's. Every choice, from technical aspects to the main critic on war and poltiics and religion is bold and it is striking to see a film with such a moral compass.
A glorious film.