“Men Go to Battle” is an independent film by Zachary
Treitz. It was made with a very low
budget and earned less than $18,000.
Considering the look of the production, it may have actually made a profit. The movie gained some good reviews from
critics.
The
movie is basically a character study of two brothers who live in Kentucky
during the Civil War. Francis (Tom
Morton) is the optimist and Henry (David Maloney) is the pessimist. They live alone in a shack and are dirt
farmers who are not good at farming.
They like to prank each other.
Their attendance at a party makes it clear that they are lower class
individuals, but well-liked. When Henry
kisses an upper class belle, she runs off crying. “I didn’t want you to be my first kiss.” Ouch!
Henry runs off to join the Union Army.
The movie concentrates on his experiences and gives a minor dose of
soldier life as portrayed by reenactors.
“Men
Go to Battle” is one of those WTFWTCT movies.
As in what the fuck were the critics thinking?” I have seen some amateurish movies in my
time, but this one takes the cake. I
would not have been surprised to find that it was written by high schoolers and
was filmed by a parent watching the production from a seat in the
auditorium. Actually, it appears to have
been filmed by Trietz himself using a hand-held camera. This may impress critics, but an entire movie
of the main characters either walking toward the camera or away from it does
not make for entertaining cinema. And
filming night scenes by candlelight because you can’t afford the lighting is
not that impressive to me. It just makes
for a dark movie. Speaking of low budget,
the movie has no soundtrack. Another
thing Treitz could not afford, I suppose.
The movie is simple in every way.
The exact opposite of a blockbuster.
And also unlike a blockbuster, nothing happens. Although technically a war movie, there is
little action. This is a bit surprising
since Treitz had access to quite a few reenactors. Why not take your hand-held camera and film
the reenactment of a battle? Because he
was making a character study. A
character study of two boring characters that nothing much happens to. How do you set a movie in war-torn Kentucky
and not have any drama?
It
is hard to hate “Men Go to Battle”.
After all, I did not pay money to be the only person in the theater to
see it. It is more a movie to be pitied. As much as I am in favor of increasing the
quantity of war movies in this modern age, I still insist on some quality. At least with the worst of the
straight-to-DVD combat porn movies, you get some adrenalin flow.
GRADE
= D-
