I would be willing to grant that to some extent this movie captures the essence of the reality of life in the trenches of World War I: long stretches of boredom interspersed with brief periods of drama and action. That actually sums up this movie rather well. It tells the story (supposedly based on true events) of a young Dutch man named Arthur Knapp (played by Timnothy Flohr.) My guess is that he's actually Indonesian - which at the time would have been the Dutch East Indies. He's living in France when the war breaks out and feels an obligation to join the French Army. And the movie depicts his experiences - both the monotony of life in the trenches and the brutality of action, when it breaks out.
So the basic atmosphere of trench life seems to be captured, but in addition to what I agree is the fair enough depiction of boredom I also need to note that I don't speak Dutch, so I watched a version that was dubbed into English. Sadly, the dubbing from the voice actors was awful. It was passionless and stilted; it brought no life to anything we were seeing on the screen. There seem to be attempts at establishing a sense of trench camaraderie among Arthur and his comrades, but at about 77 minutes long there really isn't enough time to do that and there really isn't a great deal of background given even to Arthur - so you don't really get drawn into the fate of any of the characters. Perhaps this sounds harsh, but it's true - you watch, but you don't find yourself caring. Yes, this movie does make a statement about the pointlessness of war - as many have said World War I may be the most pointless war ever fought, especially since it resolved none of the underlying issues that led to the war.
In that sense, the most powerful scene of the movie may be the last scene of the movie. Lying in bed many years later, slowly dying from having breathed in too much poison gas during his years in the trenches, Arthur has the radio beside him turned on. What's being broadcast? A speech by none other than Adolf Hitler - oviously making the point that there was nothing resolved by this war that had cost so much to so many, and looking ahead to the outbreak of yet another World War, where more death and destruction will take place. And so on, and so forth. It never ends, up to the present day.
I liked that ending - it probably raised my estimation of the movie a little bit, but it didn't save just the overall bleakness and dryness of the movie - so that I ended up rating it as 4/10.
So the basic atmosphere of trench life seems to be captured, but in addition to what I agree is the fair enough depiction of boredom I also need to note that I don't speak Dutch, so I watched a version that was dubbed into English. Sadly, the dubbing from the voice actors was awful. It was passionless and stilted; it brought no life to anything we were seeing on the screen. There seem to be attempts at establishing a sense of trench camaraderie among Arthur and his comrades, but at about 77 minutes long there really isn't enough time to do that and there really isn't a great deal of background given even to Arthur - so you don't really get drawn into the fate of any of the characters. Perhaps this sounds harsh, but it's true - you watch, but you don't find yourself caring. Yes, this movie does make a statement about the pointlessness of war - as many have said World War I may be the most pointless war ever fought, especially since it resolved none of the underlying issues that led to the war.
In that sense, the most powerful scene of the movie may be the last scene of the movie. Lying in bed many years later, slowly dying from having breathed in too much poison gas during his years in the trenches, Arthur has the radio beside him turned on. What's being broadcast? A speech by none other than Adolf Hitler - oviously making the point that there was nothing resolved by this war that had cost so much to so many, and looking ahead to the outbreak of yet another World War, where more death and destruction will take place. And so on, and so forth. It never ends, up to the present day.
I liked that ending - it probably raised my estimation of the movie a little bit, but it didn't save just the overall bleakness and dryness of the movie - so that I ended up rating it as 4/10.
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