Great Movie

Rating: 10/10 (14 August 1998)

The movie starts and ends with a sun-bleached American flag whipping in the wind. Between these images we see several intense and very believable battle sequences. We get a good glimpse into the nightmares of every modern war veteran. But this movie isn't all just battle scenes, gore, and death. It has characters we can associate with. The normal guys who find themselves in extraordinary situations -- not action heroes or superstars who fit right in to battle scenes. Their fear expressed in high-speed stuttered camera techniques (everything comes into sharp focus.) We watch one man's, Cap'n Miller, descent into insanity. We watch eight men fight for a simple idea of military etiquette. We watch hate grow in both our heroes and the Germans'. We watch poetic injustice. This movie questions the cost of war. The cost of human lives and ideas, and it recalls a memory that in a couple of decades will be lost forever in the graves of ancient men. This is not just another war flick. It's deep, meaningful, intellectual, and real. And as a film student, I'd be ashamed should this impressive and powerful film not receive both popular and awards recognition.