Searing anti-war film from a master director

Rating: 10/10 (25 February 2019)

During WW1, three French soldiers are chosen, ostensibly at random, to be court-martialed as representatives of the units that failed to take a key German outpost during the trench-warfare stalemate of 1916. Defending them is idealistic Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas), who finds himself facing an indifferent and callous court as well as cynical, self-centered senior officers. Kubrick's camera work is outstanding, with long, fluid tracking shots of officers walking through the trenches, stopping to both congratulate and berate the exhausted men. The battle scenes, as the infantry struggle though the shell craters, barb wire and bodies of no-man's land, are masterful, as is the beautiful, poignant imagery of the long walk to the execution site. The cast and script are equally excellent. George Macready plays Gen. Mireau as a heartless, self-aggrandising martinet while Adolphe Menjou's cynical Gen. Broulard, while more thoughtful, comes across as even more pernicious. The three soldiers (Ralph Meeker, Joe Turkel and Timothy Carey) who find themselves being scapegoated for the poor military decisions of their leaders are also excellent: at times weak, at times strong, and the dialogue between soldiers (such as the discussion of death by bayonet vs. shell vs bullet) has a feeling of authenticity often lacking in war-films. The film has an interesting release history: it strong anti-war message and criticism of both military mentality and military justice, got it banned in a number of venues, especially France. All-in-all, a superlative film from the early years of one of the industry's most talented directors.