The Bridge (2) vs. Westfront: 1918 (10)

 

REALISM:

                “The Bridge” is based on a true story.  It is set in the closing days of WWII in Germany.  It reflects the desperate straits Germany was in.  However, the town is largely unaffected by the war.  A bomb dropping nearby is big news which implies the village has not been bombed.  This would have been true for a small population center with no war production.  The teenage boys go to school as though there is no war on.  They are clueless of the real military situation, but they do show on a map that they are aware that Germany is being squeezed between the Anglo-Americans and the Red Army.  The various parents represent different civilian perspectives.  For example, there is a Nazi official who is bugging out.  The boys are typical of most teenage boys in most countries at war.  They are thrilled with their draft notices.  They are disappointed when they are given what they think will be a boring mission.  Nothing happens in the movie that could not have happened.  GRADE  =  A (9)

                Ironically, “Westfront: 1918” takes place in the closing months of Germany’s losing effort in WWI.  In this case, the main characters are veteran soldiers.  They are war-weary, but resilient.  They sing a lot of songs.  Life in the trenches is realistically gross.  They pick lice and dig out from under bombardments.  In one indelible scene, a dugout collapses on some of the men.  There is a long scene where one of the men goes home on leave.  His mother is standing in a bread line.  His wife is shacking up with the butcher for the benefits.  The combat is depressingly real.  No man’s land is full of craters.  There are lots of dead bodies and the movie realistically eliminates several of the main characters.   There are a few head-scratching moments.  One of the men goes over the top for no apparent reason.  French attackers retreat because of poison gas because they don’t have gas masks.  GRADE  =  B (8)

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT:

                “Die Brucke” focuses on seven teenage boys who are drafted together and are assigned the mission of defending a bridge on the outskirts of their town.  Each of the boys has a back-story representing a variety of typical situations for teenagers in war-torn Germany.  One is a rich kid whose father is in the army.  Another is the son of the local Nazi official.  There is the son of a laundress.  One has a crush on his father’s girlfriend.  One is an evacuee from a big city.  He is staying with another of the boys who is from a middle-class family.  And we have a boy who has a steady girlfriend.  Some of them are more developed than others.  The movie does a good job portraying the effects of their training and their responses to being thrust into combat.  GRADE  =  B (8)

                “Westfront: 1918” is more about the effects of the war on German soldiers than on particular German soldiers.  There are only three main characters and only Karl (who gets the home front leave) has a back-story.  The other two don’t even have names.  All three are stereotypes.  Karl is the level-headed veteran.  The Bavarian is comic-relief.  He does most of the singing.  The Student is the young, naïve soldier who thinks he has a future with a French girl.  We don’t get to know them well, but they are all appealing.  GRADE  =  C  (7)  

SOLDIER BEHAVIOR:

                The boys in “The Bridge” behave like teenage boys living peacetime lives.  They could be teenage boys in Great Britain during the war.  They are clueless as to what is actually happening.  They believe the propaganda.  They are intolerant of anyone who doesn’t.  They are all enthusiastic about joining the army and all have the bravado of young men who have not tasted war yet.  They are influenced by peer pressure.  They all defend the bridge when some have cold-feet.  But once the fighting begins, the adrenalin kicks in and they fight bravely.  The movie contrasts the septet’s eagerness with the cynicism of their officers and the defeatism of the retreating Germans.  GRADE  =  A (9)

                “Westfront: 1918” gets the camaraderie right.  In the opening scene, the men are enjoying themselves in a French café.  They flirt with the waitress (who is loose enough to become The Student’s girl).  Back at the front, it is a fight for survival, but they maintain their morale through joking and singing.  However, they are pessimistic, with good reason.  The movie is a bit weak in depicting the hardships German soldiers would have encountered at this stage of the war.  They don’t have to deal with rats or mud, but they do have to deal with the deaths of comrades.  GRADE  =  B (8)

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE:

                “The Bridge” was a success at the box office and achieved international acclaim.  It was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.  It was released in America.  It is the rare combat movie that has some appeal for females.  There are several female characters that can be related to. More importantly, mothers must find the scenario heart-tugging.  When the movie was released in 1959 there would have been plenty of parents who had experienced what the parents in the movie experienced.  For us today, the movie is a simple story of the way war corrupts.  It builds its theme effectively and then pays off with one of the better combat scenes in old school war movies.  It fits well into the “who will survive?” subgenre, but it has the added twist of asking the question “why?”  GRADE  =  A  (9)

                “Westfront: 1918” was received positively by critics.  It was overshadowed by “All Quiet…” and was considered more depressing than that film.  It certainly had no entertainment value as far as the Nazis were concerned.  Goebbels had it banned.  For a modern audience, it is one of the best of the early WWI talkies.  It is not an easy watch as the main characters all suffer in a manner appropriate for soldiers of a losing army.  You don’t have to be German to empathize with them.  There are several memorable scenes and the combat is strong, although there is not a lot of it.  GRADE  =  A  (9)

FINAL SCORE:  The Bridge  35 

                           Westfront:  1918  32

ANALYSIS: 
                “Westfront:  1918” is one of the great WWI movies.  It deserves to be mentioned with “All Quiet”, “Paths of Glory”, “Wooden Crosses”, and “The Big Parade”.  It is the best German film on the war and any film that aggravated Goebbels is special.  However, I think the tournament correctly reflects that “The Bridge” is the better film.  Although both are set at the end of German losing efforts, it manages to be more unique by concentrating on teenage soldiers as opposed to the much more common war-weary veterans we see in so many war movies.  The movie has fewer weaknesses than the 1932 film and was better received by audiences and critics alike.  It also has better combat than the earlier film.