DVD | Saints and Soldiers

Rating: M - Contains Medium Level Violence.
Duration: 90 mins.
Genre: War.
Actors: Corbin Allred, Larry Bagby III, Kirby Heyborne, Peter Holden, Alexander Polinsky, Lincoln Hoppe, Alex Niver.
Release Date: Available Now.

Based on a true story of American POWs being killed by their German captors during the Battle of the Bulge, Saints and Soldiers takes a few liberties by combining several true stories from the war to make the overall story more interesting.

And an interesting story it is, one of courage and dedication, and fighting against the odds.

As a war movie there is nothing new here, as a history lesson, it’s an interesting look at a little known event, but it’s still fictional in it’s delivery. It’s the human story that makes Saints so compelling to watch. A small group of relative strangers are forced together and must depend on each other for their survival, in some of the worst conditions possible.

And it’s during this time, that the men must not only face their own inner demons, but are forced to reflect on the mortality of man and what the future holds for them after they die. It’s in this little spiritual subplot that we see a man of faith face off with an atheist doctor who cares only for himself.

Filmed with no known actors and on a budget of US$1 Million, Saints does suffer from time to time in the action stakes, but the movie as a whole holds its own. The pacing is kept moving by the ever-present threat of the advancing German army, and the seemingly impossible odds that the allied soldiers face.

Visually the movie is great, the Ardennes recreated in a Utah winter is a desolate, forested nightmare, and the sound (background music) is subtle and in keeping with the atmosphere of the movies various scenes.

A great movie for any World War II movie fan.

Food for thought:
Can we offer love and friendship to those we are fighting against?