This is the first major film that I have seen where the undoubted atrocities of the Great War trench battles were presented from the side of Germany. More specifically, from the young "Bäumer" (the thoroughly convincing Felix Kammerer) who finds himself along with comrades "Müller" (Moritz Klaus) and "Albert" (Aaron Hilmer) enlisting into the army. Full of enthusiasm and optimism they arrive at a front that very quickly saps them all of both. Food is in short supply, as is sleep, water, safety - indeed just about everything that could terrify these young men is delivered upon them as, meantime, we (the audience) see a parallel storyline that shows just how close to armistice we are at this stage of this most egregious conflict. If you've ever been to the Somme, you will probably conclude just as "Bäumer" does, that there is an immense degree of futility in men fighting for a few yards of bombed out, muddy and corpse-ridden ground. The toing and froing between these equally matched, tired and disillusioned troops demonstrating the pointlessness of it all. Edward Berger marries the strife and struggles faced by those at the front well with the diplomatic efforts being made by those whose discomfort was of an entirely different cut. Daniel Brühl and, to a lesser extent, Thibault de Montalembert go some way to illustrating this parallel game of chess with one side determined to salvage some semblance of honour in defeat, the other determined that victory will be complete and absolute. The visual effects are not quite "1917" (2019), but they still convey excellently the peril and squalor in which these soldiers endured. The audio mixes add perfectly to that sense of menace, and the whole cinematography strikes a chill. The screenplay is sparing; we do not have loads of dialogue - much of the imagery and the facial expressions of the young men, scared out of their wits for much of the time, is left to do almost all of the heavy lifting. It is brutal and graphic at times, but that adds enormously to this frankly terrifyingly authentic look at warfare that pits man against the elements and, ultimately, the politics superbly. Big screen must, if you can. Netflix it may be, but for television this certainly isn't.
