Scratch Beneath the Surface

Rating: 8/10 (28 January 2001)

Scratch the surface of this excellent war movie and you find the same film that was made dozens of times in Hollywood during WW II. There's a bloody battle (too bloody for me here; despite all the hoopla, suggestion is often more powerful than "realism"), there's a gold star mother, there's an Italian, there's a Jew, there's a kid from Brooklyn, there's the nerd, there's the officer with a heart of gold, there's the all-knowing top sarge,... Need I continue?
Perhaps most viewers have forgotten how moving those old films were. Most of course can't remember them. To those I say spend 90 minutes in front of your TV set the next time one is aired. You'll be surprised by how good they were.