could have been better

Rating: Null/10 (30 September 1999)

I had higher expectations before seeing this. But at the end, it was just a sequence of battle scenes. And the attempts of bringing poetics to the human drama just didn't look convincing. Even the photography looked dull. Maybe it was the copy made into VHS videotape, or maybe it the dulling of the original Technicolor print, whose colors fade after several years. But "Full Metal Jacket", whose battle scenes (specially the ones in an abandoned factory) really resemble some of the scenes in this motion picture, looks photographically and cinematographically much more convincing, attractive, engaging. Also, the characters seem just too much alike one each other, very well shaven and clean cut. I don't know the details of the siege, and maybe it is true that all german soldiers were required to be well shaven at all times, so I cannot comment on this seemingly unrealistic detail. On the positive side, I enjoyed the multitude of languages spoken in the movie, German and Russian. I also encourage the idea of having a war movie seen from the german soldier's perspective, something to think about in the overwelming multitude of American GI movies. Have japanese film makers come to the point of making a movie in a lost battle where Japanese soldiers are decimated? It could be interesting.