NOW STREAMING: The Great War (2019)

 

                If you are not aware that WWI is called the Great War and was from 1914 to 1918, this may be the movie for you.  Be aware that in spite of the title, it is not a documentary about the war.  Perhaps the reason for the ludicrous title was to con history buffs into buying the straight-to-DVD.  It is brought to you by the Steven Luke of “Battle of the Bulge:  Winter War” and “Wunderland”.  If you’ve seen either of those low budget weekend reenactor epics, you know what to expect.  You know to expect the gravitas lended by B-list actors working for beer money.  In this case, Ron Perlman and Billy Zane.

                In spite of its expansive title, it is actually about an incident that occurs in the last week of the war.  It takes place in the Argonne Forest where a Captain Rivers (Bates Wilder) is suffering from PTSD.  He leads an attack across no man’s land.  In an awkward tactical move, the Germans are not in their trenches.  They are in the open behind them.  The action is small-scale, but not embarrassing.  The deaths are silly, but the effects are decent.  Rivers unit is aided by an all-black unit which is what we call foreshadowing in the business.  Two days before the armistice, Gen. Pershing (Perlman) learns about a black unit that has gotten cut off.  He reads a letter from Lincoln and proclaims “We’re gonna find them and we’re gonna get them down off that damned hill”.  (Note to Luke:  Don’t remind your audience of “Saving Private Ryan”.)  Rivers is assigned the task of rescuing the unit.  He leads seven men behind enemy lines.  One of them is a black soldier named Cain who is their guide.  (He’s from Brooklyn, so that box is checked.)   Another is a loathsome racist begging for a change of attitude arc.  He’s Italian, of course.  The squad saunters through the woods lamely bantering.  Eventually, they find the platoon.  (The blacks do not appear until well into the movie.)  “Looks like you fellas got hit pretty hard.”  “Yes sir, they hit us pretty hard”.  (Did I mention Luke wrote the dialogue himself?)  The supposedly beleaguered platoon is not dug in and their officer is in a ridiculously spacious tent!  But they are game for the “big” set piece breakout battle.  Better hurry, the war is almost over.  (If you have taking a drink anytime someone mentions that fact, you will be blissfully drunk at this point.)

                I have seen worse movies, but not many.  I have to give some credit for sincerity.  Even Perlman and Zane seem to care about their performances.  The other actors are not terrible and Wilder is decent.  He does white savior fairly well.  It is a bit questionable that Rivers is the hero in a movie that purports to be an homage to African-American soldiers.  It does give off a solid civil rights vibe.  Its heart is in the right place, but all the other organs are messed up.  It is predictable and parts are unintentionally hilarious. 

                You’ll find it move amusing if you are familiar with the circumstances surrounding the end of the war.  The platoon gets cut off by pushing too far in the Allies attempt to gain as much territory as possible before the end.  As though the Germans were going to get to keep any parts of France they still held.  Guffaw!  It’s the French that force Pershing to fight to the last minute.  This is exactly the opposite of what happened.  In reality, the great general disagreed with the pansy armistice and insisted on attacking until 11 A.M. on November 11.  3,500 Americans became casualties because of Pershing.  As far as a lost platoon, this appears to have been inspired by the Lost Battalion.  (Another movie you would not want to encourage comparison to.)  Speaking of which, there is a bayonet charge with Cain carrying a flag like in  “Glory”.

                “The Great War” is available on Amazon Prime, so at least it was free for me to watch.  It ended a string of recent war movies that were above average.  After reviewing “The Outpost”, “Danger Close”, “Da 5 Bloods”, and “Last Full Measure”,  I was content that the last year has been a banner year for war movies, despite “The Great War”.  I’m sure I’ll forget about it soon enough.  It might take longer to forget that someone actually thought that title was a good one.

GRADE  =  D-