Courage, Honor, Humanity .... War

Rating: 10/10 (27 April 1999)

There can be no "War Movie" which is not at the same time an "Anti-war Movie". The nearly unique aspect of this movie is that it depicts that rare event in human conflict; a battle in which both sides may be said to have won. And both sides lost, of course. Lives, hopes, aspirations. Incredible performances by Stanley Baker, a very YOUNG Michael Caine. Jack Hawkins plays a credible drunken minister, and Nigel Greene delivers the eternally memorable line; when asked by a frightened soldier "why us?" Color Sergeant Bourne implacably replies "Because we're here, lad. Because we're here." It's as impossible to ignore the fine, sensitive scripting as the surprisingly lucid depiction of The Battle of Roark's Drift. Historical inaccuracies are in petty details only; the sense of simultaneous exaltation and shame that a soldier feels after surviving his first battle has never been more accurately portrayed. Where else can you watch the making of heroes from such obviously human material? Stanley Baker's determination to make this film has earned him a place in theater history.