De Vijanden (1968)

            The movie was directed by Hugo Claus (“The Lion of Flanders”). It takes place during the Battle of the Bulge. Since I strongly suggest you don’t watch it, I will summarize what you should avoid. An American platoon pulls back because of the German offensive, but they forget to wake one of the men.  Harrison hooks up with a boy named Richard and an old Belgian named Alfonzo. They are making their way to American lines while trying to avoid the krauts. It is a war road trip picture. On the way, the meet a mother who Harrison rapes after she flirts with him and then has a change of mind. Harrison is something of a dick. Richard talks the daughter into showing her breasts. There are no heroes in this film. There are some fake German tanks they have to survive. They end up being captured by a rogue American group led by a woman. At one point, Harrison shoots a dogs and they eat it. By this time, you won’t care what happens to them.

            This is one terrible movie. Its 5.8 rating on IMDB might have been inflated by perverts. Much of the actions by the characters is ridiculous. It does have a lot of unintentional laughs. The battle scenes are surprisingly big for such a miniscule budget. There are even some flamethrowers which would have been used better to incinerate the film. The characters are all unlikeable and very poorly acted. Rivet counters will have heart attacks if they take the movie seriously. Insomniacs might like it. The only thing I can say positive about my experience is that it lasted only 1 hour and 31 minutes. However, I was begging for it to end before the hour mark.

GRADE  =  F-