Summary:
After failing to attack a well-fortified position, a general accuses soldiers of cowardice and a commanding officer steps in to defend them.
My Thoughts:
Every once in a while you see a film that really surprises you, and this was one of those movies for me. I had heard great things about this movie for years, but for one reason or other, I’d never gotten around to sitting down to watch it. If I’m being honest, when I sat down to watch it, I wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit to see it (as this was one of the films for the Kubrick series, it felt like sitting down to watch it was a little bit of a chore), but by the end of this movie I was so wrapped up in the story that I could barely take my eyes from the screen, and as the final scene played out on screen I found myself emotionally overwhelmed and I started to cry. This film is a harrowing look at the horrors and absurdities of war, and a commentary on the horrid way that humans can treat each other for no reason whatsoever. This is a truly emotional masterpiece, one that shook me in a way I had not expected.
“I’m not afraid of dying tomorrow, only of getting killed.”
Our story begins five weeks after the fighting between France and Germany started during the first World War. The fighting is deadly and the ground gained is measured in yards, the cost is thousands of lives. General George Broulard (Adolphe Menjou, “The Front Page”), a French general, arrives at headquarters to give plans to General Paul Mireau (George Macready, “Gilda”). There is to be an attack mounted against a German fortification known as “The Ant Hill,” and though the odds are against them, Mireau is certain they will conquer the land. As the attack commences, the men are pushed back by the sheer violence of the Germans, much to the anger of Mireau. Mireau orders that a few of the men be shot as an example for their cowardice, but Col. Dax (Kirk Douglas, "Spartacus”) steps in to protest the men’s execution.
Before I talk about the story and character, I want to mention that this was the first Kubrick film that really blew me away in terms of technical aspects. There are some very impressive cinematic moments, particularly in the first third of the film, which takes place on the battlefield and in the trenches. There are extended tracking shots that put us right down in the trenches with the men; explosions and gunfire reign down around us as we accompany Mireau on his inspection of the men, and the charge with Dax is absolutely exhilarating. It’s easy to see how the charge scene in this movie inspired the Normandy scene for “Saving Private Ryan" (as well as dozens of other films, but the comparison is obvious here). The camera’s fly over the trenches while extras run over twisted wire, slogging through puddles and over bodies- the scene is utter chaos, but it’s brilliantly photographed in a way that keeps everything in perspective and shows the scope of the battle. It’s crazy to watch some of Kubrick’s staging in these scenes, particularly how deep his frame is during the battle scenes. While Kirk Douglas runs in the foreground, we can see men fifty feet behind him still charging- the scene is truly impressive as a battle scene, but what’s most impressive is that the battle scene isn’t even the most memorable scene in the film.
The most impressive part of this film for me was the story and the characters involved. This is truly a deeply ironic story, and Kubrick took full advantage of this. Perhaps the most ironic character is that of Mireau, the general who is put in charge of the assault on “Ant Hill.” Even from the scene where Mireau inspects his men, we see the disconnect between the higher and lower ranking men. When Broulard charges Mireau to take Ant Hill, Mireau acts as if will be easy; when Mireau talks to Dax about his plan to take the Ant Hill, Dax responds that it might be possible, but he doesn’t want to risk that many men; when Dax talks to his men about the assault, they grimly agree to do it. The closer the men are to the battle, the more wary they are about what will transpire on the battlefield. Mireau is only ‘brave’ because he watched the battle from a periscope within a fortified bunker; there is no danger for him. Yet he condemns the men that have crossed the battlefield in a charge towards the Germans as cowards, because they eventually retreat. Mireau’s character is more concerned with his own reputation as a general than he is with the lives of all the men he’s in charge of. This is illustrated multiple times throughout the film, but the most shocking example is perhaps when he orders his Battery Commander to open fire on his own men so as to push them forward. Luckily, the Battery Commander refuses to open fire on his own men without written authorization, and the general refuses to give it. As the battle comes to a close, and the men are forced to retreat, the real emotional moments start to come.
This film is structured in a way that might feel strange to some people. The big battle takes place within the first thirty minutes of the film, and the remaining hour of the movie is all about the fallout from the battle. Mireau is livid that his men failed to carry out the attack, and wants one man out of ten executed from the battalion (a total of a hundred men would die). Dax argues with Mireau until finally the general brings down the number down to three men to be executed for cowardice. Mireau and Dax continue to go head to head in a court that Dax very openly says that the trial isn’t fair, that the general’s reason for wanting the men dead is trivial and cowardly. Dax brings up various occasions where the men have displayed bravery, as well as call attention to the hopeless situation that the men found themselves. It becomes obvious that the court is convicting men who had no chance of survival for doing something that any man would’ve done. The film is both ironic and sad in it’s portrayal of the military machine, and the ending is indeed a grim and solemn one.
The way this film ends was absolutely perfect for me; it brought the film to a close in a way that perfectly illustrated the tone of the whole film. The scene is that of a captured, frightened German woman (played by Kubrick’s wife, Christiane Kubrick, “Eyes Wide Shut”) who is brought before a group of rowdy men. The men catcall and jeer at her for her to perform or do something, and the woman begins to cry as she sings. The men eventually stop yelling, and join her in humming the tune. Though they cannot understand the words, they know the tune- the theme speaks to humans in general. All of us, though we may come from different backgrounds and have different beliefs, we’re all cut from the same cloth, and we all want and need the same things: love, compassion for our other humans, sympathy, empathy. The scene was so powerful that it brought me to tears, and just thinking about it now gets me kind of emotional. This film is a bleak but brilliant look at the horrors humanity inflicts on itself, but it’s also a call for us to better ourselves; to look at the ridiculous situation that these men find themselves in and realize that war does not have to this way. Humans do not have to treat each other this way.
Verdict:
I love Kubrick’s films, and I had fully expected to enjoy this movie, but I had not expected it to hit me as hard as it did. This is an absolutely wonderful film; it’s one of the best World War One movies I’ve seen, and it might be the very best anti-war movie I’ve seen in my entire life. I’d recommend this film to anyone who has a pulse; it’s not only exhilarating, it’s undeniably important.
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