Cross of Iron

Another world war 2 film - Sam Peckinpaugh's take. Slow motion ultra-violence, and an approach that empties the war of any meaning except the act of fighting. That may be a good or bad - it's somewhat strange to see an American film do it, Especially set on the Eastern Front - it's a bit less strange when Germany and Japan do it... You don't see a lot of films like that about WWII - WWI is the anti-war film... it tends to make you wonder if maybe Peckinpaugh had others wars in mind...

In any case, it is a fine film, that hits all the notes war movies have to hit - the camaraderie of the unit, the conflicts in any given army, the inevitable trip to the home front (or a hospital), where the hero is more lost than he is in battle - and of course, trial by violence...