Cross of Iron (1977)

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1. 

   viccc

   Politically dubious as it humanizes the Nazi side and largely reduces Russians to a mindless horde (with the exception of the young boy, and the women soldiers). The movie seduces into forgetting that the Germans were encroaching on Russian soil as invaders and pillagers. There's madness in war alright, and this is The Heart of Darkness for the Eastern front; but surely the madness was unevenly distributed: The Soviet defensive war was no act of insanity, but an attempt to avert existential annihilation. The Conradian war-is-madness view really only works so long as one keeps this basic fact of aggressor and defender in mind, which the movie lures us into ignoring. 3 years 1 month ago
2. 

   Siskoid

   Sam Peckinpah's Cross of Iron, a WWII film starring James Coburn featuring the German side of things. Mostly devoid of politics, it's really about the soldier's reality in any war, and indeed, feels a lot more informed by Vietnam than it does the Russian front (and yet, the details are authentic). I enjoyed it, though it was very bleak. 7 years 4 months ago
3. 

   Louis Mazzini

   Good war movie but not anywhere near Peckinpah's best. 11 years 1 month ago

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