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on December 8, 2013
The actual content or basis for content is fascinating, however, the acting/storyline (directing) was so poor that at least three times I attempted to watch the movie and either fell asleep or turned it off out of boredom. Just so that sinks in, I am a history junkie, taking it, evaluating it from whatever source available. This was a war movie rented by someone excited to rent it and it was just to painful to watch no matter how hard I tried.
on June 14, 2015
Refreshing divergence from Hollywood style maximum pyrotechnics war movies. This was a drama, not an action movie. This movie was quite ambitious in the way it tried to flesh out characters from so many different cultural groups, something I never saw in a war movie before (maybe I just never watched enough of them, though). The costuming and props were convincing to a person (myself) who does not make a hobby of learning the detail of this time period. This was a low budget movie, obviously, but rather well done. The actors put themselves into their characters. Attention was paid to including realistic detail, for example, there was that scene where two soldiers struggled to get a cigarette lit in the wind. That would never have been shown in a cosmetically correct Hollywood glossovers. More and more we find ourselves watching foreign movies to get levels of intelligent detail complexity no longer found in increasingly simpleton Hollywood fare.
on August 11, 2016
This is the most poorly conceived and written WWII film I have seen in a long while. Too many characters in disparate, boggy story-lines make the film mostly incoherent with only brief and sporadic dramatic tension. This is what happens when script writers and directors are more interested in the "message" they want in a film than a focused, character-driven story with sustained dramatic tension.
on January 18, 2015
Well made for an Indie film, but the story is cartoonish and depressing. Some pathetic Italian soldiers fight some pathetic American soldiers. There's also some brave Italian partisan soldiers, some pathetic Italian mafia guys, and some disciplined Germans tasked to conquer under pathetic conditions.
Yes, there's pathetic people in the world, but I don't enjoy watching their lives. The pathetic soldiers here were so pathetic it seemed cartoonish--if there were many like that in WWII, the movie didn't make a convincing case for it.
I gave up on this movie about 3/4 of the way through it.
Yes, there's pathetic people in the world, but I don't enjoy watching their lives. The pathetic soldiers here were so pathetic it seemed cartoonish--if there were many like that in WWII, the movie didn't make a convincing case for it.
I gave up on this movie about 3/4 of the way through it.
on May 14, 2014
I'm not sure why some reviews portrays this movie as being that bad. It's a basic story showing the perspective of soldiers from the German, Italian, and American Army. If you are a serious WW2 buff, its worth the purchase. The uniforms were spot on and I even recognized some of the German actors from German made WW films. I have a huge DVD war library and being also a U.S. Army veteran, the basics of the movie such as uniforms, equipment etc has to be genuine. That's one of the reasons why I enjoyed this movie enough to put it in my vast collection.
on June 18, 2014
Wow, what a turkey. Low production values, disjointed script, nonsensical (or missing) story arc--but hey, it's steeped in profound unreality, so we got that going for us. Could not even finish, beware.
on September 2, 2014
Incoherent mishmash of a war movie/anti war movie/drama/comedy---but no good on any of these scales. Cheap to stream at 2 bucks but not worth it.
on October 3, 2010
In summary: this film is a waste of your time and money.
I believe this so much that I will SEND you my copy to prove it. Just write mgardner68 at my juno.com account. Seriously - this film is simply not worth becoming a part of any collection.
I understand that the film is an independant effort, and I applaud the attempt to make such a film. I will give credit to the uniforms, equipment and scenery. An effective try, but not enough to save the film.
The acting, especially from the Americans, Italians and locals (and that one pitiful German soldier) was very sub-par. Ooh, that only leaves the German officer and, at times, the Italian officer. Too bad. The actors would have done themselves a service by not acting at all. None of the interaction came across as authentic... it all seemed over acted and forced.
The sound track was completely distracting and inappropriate. It made the film laughable, not believable. No soundtrack would have been a value add for this film.
The story was too (tooooooooo) busy and scattered, losing focus easily and as a result losing the viewer in the tangle that was simply too much for an indy film to attempt to portay with ample realism.
The battle scenes, without proper choreography and effects, should not have been attempted. It is implausible that trained US GI's would make such a haphazard, uncoordinated frontal assault such as the one depicted in the final scene. I've read too many personal narratives from WWII, seen too many well thought out film scenes using actual veteran consultants to plan it, to believe the battle scenes in this film. A smart indy director/writer knows what to/what not to attempt. These battle scenes were overambitious with the resources at hand.
Finally, a word of caution when purchasing films on Amazon based on reading reviews. I read the reviews. I bought this film because there were more "well written" reviews as opposed to several "poorly written/worded" reviews. I was suckered. Some of the well written reviews may very well have been from people related to the film makers. Shame on them.
A good film, regardless of being an indy production or not, can stand on its own merit. Without bogus reviews, this film cannot. Do not waste 1 hour and 50 minutes of your time.
I believe this so much that I will SEND you my copy to prove it. Just write mgardner68 at my juno.com account. Seriously - this film is simply not worth becoming a part of any collection.
I understand that the film is an independant effort, and I applaud the attempt to make such a film. I will give credit to the uniforms, equipment and scenery. An effective try, but not enough to save the film.
The acting, especially from the Americans, Italians and locals (and that one pitiful German soldier) was very sub-par. Ooh, that only leaves the German officer and, at times, the Italian officer. Too bad. The actors would have done themselves a service by not acting at all. None of the interaction came across as authentic... it all seemed over acted and forced.
The sound track was completely distracting and inappropriate. It made the film laughable, not believable. No soundtrack would have been a value add for this film.
The story was too (tooooooooo) busy and scattered, losing focus easily and as a result losing the viewer in the tangle that was simply too much for an indy film to attempt to portay with ample realism.
The battle scenes, without proper choreography and effects, should not have been attempted. It is implausible that trained US GI's would make such a haphazard, uncoordinated frontal assault such as the one depicted in the final scene. I've read too many personal narratives from WWII, seen too many well thought out film scenes using actual veteran consultants to plan it, to believe the battle scenes in this film. A smart indy director/writer knows what to/what not to attempt. These battle scenes were overambitious with the resources at hand.
Finally, a word of caution when purchasing films on Amazon based on reading reviews. I read the reviews. I bought this film because there were more "well written" reviews as opposed to several "poorly written/worded" reviews. I was suckered. Some of the well written reviews may very well have been from people related to the film makers. Shame on them.
A good film, regardless of being an indy production or not, can stand on its own merit. Without bogus reviews, this film cannot. Do not waste 1 hour and 50 minutes of your time.
