The Bridge (1959)

If I had realized that I was already seeing another movie set in the 1945 European Theater, I would have put this further down my queue. But it should be altogether fitting to watch some manner of war -- or antiwar -- film on Memorial Day, especially when it has an Oscar nomination and a high body count. Even if the focus is on a nation fighting against the United States.

Based on a novel by Hitler Youth veteran turned pacifist Gregor Dorfmeister (pen name Manfred Gregor) and directed by concentration camp survivor Bernhard Wicki, TB follows several teen boys in a small German town who get excited to be drafted. None of the older citizens share their joy. By this time, the military is desperate enough to put them on the front lines after one day of training. Their assignment is to guard (what else?) a bridge in town, despite rumors that it's slated for bombing by their own side.

The film makes no mention of their government being characterized by genocide, fascism, or bigotry. Maybe that's just as well for the sake of a broader message. If you picture All Quiet on the Western Front with a later world war and real Germans, you're not far off. That said, Wicki reported in the DVD extras (have patience for slow-talking old guys if you watch them) that his intended message was not against all fighting, just fighting without ample justification. All the disenchanted characters find claims of an honorable cause ringing hollow.

Act 1 shows the boys' lives, whether carefree or melodramatic, from shortly before enlistment. Dorfmeister had written these moments as flashbacks, but Wicki didn't know a good way to work flashbacks into the medium. Other directors have done it, but I hadn't cared for the effect in In Which We Serve; it seems to slow the present down. I won't say I gained much liking for the boys. As usual for this genre, I barely bothered to tell them apart. Nevertheless, it does humanize them. More importantly, it drives home the point that they're only teens, and not very mature ones at that. Multiple adults, including an American, use the familiar term "kindergarten" when talking about or even to them.

American forces don't show up until Act 3. Obviously, that's when the most deaths happen, but almost equal time is spent on the Germans in heated conflict, sometimes killing each other. That army sure has inadequate communications and/or regard for its own.

It does TB credit that the Americans express reluctance to attack kid soldiers. At least one of those kids, in turn, can't stand to see an enemy gravely wounded but not yet dead. Said kid goes mad with grief, as happens in many of these stories.

Wicki had a harsh but effective trick for getting young actors to emote enough: dust in the eyes. He also had great cinematography. The one thing he could have used more of was American tank authenticity, understandably unavailable. You can see truck wheels underneath.

I hope you agree that I do no disservice to fallen U.S. soldiers by pitying their opponents along with them on this holiday. No matter how wrong a side is, it's bound to have moderately innocent pawns in play. And TB does an excellent job of capturing the horror and heartache that everyone should know of before entering another battle.