Movies and Films
This is the forum for Movie and Film discussions. Again, our topic is naval warfare in WWII for the most part.
Re: The Ultimate U-571 Bashing!!! (read at own ris
Posted by:
I Stapley
()
Date: March 13, 2002 04:11PM
<HTML>OK it's not U boat orientated but WW2 just the same. "When Trumpets Fade" came out around the same time as "Ryan" and "Thin Red Line". Filmed on a budget out in Czechoslovakia I think, looking at a largely forgotten episode in 1944, the battle of the Hurtgen Forest.
What amounted to America's own Verdun, several thousand troops were killed, wounded or captured during the space of a few months. The film looks at a small group, the sergeant (who has earned his promotion for being the only survivor of his squad, and he's only been in the line a week) and his squad of greenbeaks, straight of the ship.
What could have become a maudlin picture actually comes across quite well. The sergeant is constantly bucking for a section 8 - having seen enough butchery to last him the rest of his life but in the end pulls off a feat of heroism and self sacrifice which stops short of the saccharine-Spielberg type generally on offer.
The rookies are not the chiselled jawbones that usually crop up, these guys look like they've been hit with the ugly stick - chubby, bottle spectacles etc and painfully inexperienced. All but one cops for it and I leave you to find out which one.
It may not be to everyone's taste but I prefer it to some of it's more trumpeted contemporaries - refreshingly bullsh*t free.</HTML>
What amounted to America's own Verdun, several thousand troops were killed, wounded or captured during the space of a few months. The film looks at a small group, the sergeant (who has earned his promotion for being the only survivor of his squad, and he's only been in the line a week) and his squad of greenbeaks, straight of the ship.
What could have become a maudlin picture actually comes across quite well. The sergeant is constantly bucking for a section 8 - having seen enough butchery to last him the rest of his life but in the end pulls off a feat of heroism and self sacrifice which stops short of the saccharine-Spielberg type generally on offer.
The rookies are not the chiselled jawbones that usually crop up, these guys look like they've been hit with the ugly stick - chubby, bottle spectacles etc and painfully inexperienced. All but one cops for it and I leave you to find out which one.
It may not be to everyone's taste but I prefer it to some of it's more trumpeted contemporaries - refreshingly bullsh*t free.</HTML>
