When I was writing my review about Platoon (1986) this week, I noted that a lot of American war films do not present both sides of the battle; so, with that freshly in mind, I was interested that this film does include at least a bit of the German perspective. And to be quite honest, the Germans are portrayed quite decently, or at least as no better and no worse than the Allies.
At one point, the Germans try to surrender to Lt. Col. Frost (Anthony Hopkins), but he tells them to go to hell. In response, the Germans act shocked. They were trying to play by the rules of war, and the Allies refused to follow those rules. It was only then that the German Field Commander said, Fine, destroy the city.
Until that point, you get the idea at least that Germany occupied The Netherlands, but they didn't turn it into a parking lot or rubble.
At another moment in the film, a German commander gave Allied prisoners chocolate. I mean, it's small things like that humanize the Germans, but everything in a movie like this is purposeful, and it felt like the message being conveyed was that the Germans were civilized warriors.
Added to that, the Germans won Operation Market Garden, which makes it something of an odd battle to dramatize, because there can be no positive or happy resolution for the Allies.
What struck me most, perhaps, is the ending. We see a long shot of a wealthy Dutch family silhouetted against a featureless sky. They are walking away from their destroyed mansion, all of their possessions in a single cart.
More focus on individuals or individual families would have been nice. This film is so epic in scope, but its focus is primarily on the military and the different units and groups involved in the battles. It doesn't focus all that much on the civilians, nor does it ever find a way to home in on any specific characters, civilian or military, in a way that gets us invested in their plight. In a couple of instances, it does make a brief attempt -- the solider that makes his friend "guarantee" that he won't die, the 14-year-old Dutch resistance spy -- but for me to really love this film, I would probably need the film to focus on just telling their story.
This makes me think that the format is wrong. That is, instead of a 3-hour epic, maybe this story would be better told as a 6-part miniseries. Then, each episode could more easily follow the story of a different character? I totally get that this is not what the movie was going for; I'm simply presenting a way that I think the content might have worked better for my enjoyment.
In terms of the "war aspect" of the film, I enjoyed it. No, I don't think it's on the level of Saving Private Ryan, or a top-tier war film, but the almost every top actor from the 1970s is in this film, and the sheer amount of war period military equipment used is impressive. Roger Ebert in his review completely panned the movie for "war cliches," but his assessment seemed to be a little excessive, in my opinion.
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
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