Wonderful Movie

I wanted to but couldn't!

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

I had to watch this movie for a school project. I kind of dreaded it at first, but the movie is easy to get into. It has a drawing opening. The historical context is great, too. I felt as though I was learning as well as enjoying a movie for a class totally unrelated to History. But anyways, I felt like the movie wasn't action-packed enough. It was supposed to be a "drama/war R-rated movie" so that's what I expected. I was really anticipating the shoot 'em up bang bang type of movie, but that is not what we got. Most of the time I felt like I was just listening to a movie rather than watching a movie. Which I am not knocking it for, it was just something really unexpected. But all in all, it was a good movie, I would suggest it for others to watch. I rate it 3 out of 5 stars.

Recap: A band of five young American men, all that is left of a platoon hit hard during the Ardenne offensive during the WWII get the assignment as a forward outpost and to look for enemy activity. They're in really bad condition, both physically and mentally, and think they have struck gold when their outpost is in an abandoned but once plush mansion full with food. But after a while there is some enemy activity, and it is very odd. Not hostile, but odd. It seems like there is a German squad out there, in equally bad condition, that want nothing more than to surrender.Comments: Based on a novel and my guess that the novel is much better but the story doesn't seem to translate very well to the big screen. Indeed it is a different war movie, much more about the mental pressure during wartimes than fighting and battles. But I can almost feel that scenes that must have been full of suspense, full of uncertainties and unknown elements, just fall flat in the movie. It is not suspenseful, just different and in many ways absurd. Many times people just act insane, and the reasons are unclear or at best hinted at.So when this mental pressure fails to come through, the main building piece of the entire story, I thought the story fell through. It wasn't good, it wasn't interesting, it didn't keep me on the edge and it didn't really send a message. Actually it did nothing.The cast is interesting, many young actors that then turned into stars in beginning of their careers. The acting is good, but not stellar, and a few characters also fell through into the absurd zone. Much of that too I feel is due to that this story, these characters need the time, space and pace given in a novel, that they can't be given here. And going halfway definitely isn't good enough.4/10

This was nothing but a slick propaganda movie for the Give Peace a Chance empty-heads.54 years after World War II we are to suddenly forget the millions of dead and the destruction of most of Europe brought on by Nazi Germany. After all, the men who wore the Nazi uniforms were just a bunch of boys who loved their mothers and longed for home at Christmas. So put away your weapons and your silly ideas like moral values and patriotism. Just sing along with Silent Night (a German song, after all) and forget the evil, the dead; and why not Christmas-kiss old Adolf, Himmler, the whole crowd. This is one of a very small number of historical re-writes created to trash real history and cast the seed of confusion in place of moral clarity. Fortunately, very few people bought into this one.

There were three scenes in this movie which ultimately turned me off. 1) The de-virginization gang bang with the soldiers and one women. I found this scene just plain wrong. 2) The washing of the dead soldier. 3) The squeezing of the blood from the dead soldier.I don't know if anyone else found these scenes off-putting at all, but they ruined the movie for me. I would have liked the movie if it were not for these three scenes. I've watched many perverse and disturbing movies, "Bad Lieutenant" and "Seven" to name a couple off the top of my head. However, I was unable to properly digest the scenes in "A Midnight Clear" and found they destroyed the movie for me.