De vijanden (1968) User Reviews

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[fostrhod · 5/10 · 13 February 2023]

The Enemies (De Vianjden) 1968 , Netflix. This a strange one indeed.

Set during the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes in Belgium. An American Gi, lost behind enemy lines, a young (19?) Belgium boy,surely he would have been fighting for his country already and a captured German soldier who they take prisoner. They go in search of the GIs platoon. That's the story, I won't go into anymore detail other than to say. The dialogue is spoken in their own language, German, Flemish and American and various French's Ukrainian. (all have the relevant subtitles so you don't miss the not very well written dialogue) it's moves from one scene to the next with no apparent connection, it does remind me of El Topo in that respect, I guess it's anti war a scene with 3 visiting senators taking photographs of a general and the GI and the Belgium " partisan" in the middle of a battlefield is surreal. Through to the shooting of a dog and subsequent eating of the pooch and a couple of Belgium woman throwing themselves at the liberating GI and the boy. It's all a mess it's badly acted, badly written. If I was to guess at the makers of the movie I'd say that they were hippies with their own anti war agenda( fair enough) but it is a terrible movie, bizarrely because it is so bad it is very watchable. Now it's finished i do now think why did I waste my time.it's all pretty random 3/10.

unusual war movie

[myriamlenys · 4/10 · 27 May 2020]

Belgium, during World War II. A young Belgian civilian finds himself caught up in the heavy fighting going on in the Ardennes. He stumbles upon a lone American soldier isolated from his fellows. Together they catch a German soldier, who becomes their prisoner. Realizing that they're in the same boat, and that the boat is sinking fast, the three men develop an uneasy fellowship...

"De vijanden" is an unusual war movie, in the sense that it features non-heroic protagonists. All three protagonists are human, imperfect and flawed - possibly even very flawed. This gives the movie an admirable realism : war happens to everyone, and not just to the wise, the gallant, the decent, the likeable. Moreover, "De vijanden" focuses mainly on the confusion involved in a major battle. Our three protagonists stumble around in the dark, not knowing who or what they're going to meet around the next corner. For much of the time, they proceed by luck and guesswork - sometimes with a degree of success, sometimes not. This element, again, imbues the movie with a considerable realism ; also with a considerable unpredictability.

The well-done battle scenes impress, especially when it comes to evoking the vast noise, chaos and confusion involved. Just like the protagonists, the viewer will have great difficulty in analyzing the events : are we looking, say, at Americans approaching, at Germans approaching, at Germans fleeing ? Is that barely glimpsed or guessed-at figure between the trees an American G.I., a German soldier, a Belgian civilian, a German soldier posing as a Belgian Resistance fighter ? It is a sobering thought, that in real life soldiers had to take thousands of split-second decisions based on dimly sensed impressions.

However, I can't wholeheartedly recommend the movie. The movie has energy, realism, unpredictability, yes - but at the same time it feels uneven, even amateuristic. There's a strong sense of missed opportunities and professional inexperience. Moreover, a young Robbe De Hert gives a mediocre performance, in a clear case of "Don't give up your day job, kid". Many a viewer will be waiting, nay praying for his character to get a bullet through the cranium...

Ridiculous

[martinking-34464 · 1/10 · 16 April 2020]

Terrible acting, laughable plot, ridiculous waste of time. The three main protagonists all get shot at the end, which doesn't come soon enough. Robbery de Hert became a director probably because his acting abilities were a little negligible. Very silly film

Plot better than the movie

[jerebron · 8/10 · 18 November 2002]

Despite terrible dubbing and some amateuristic scenes, the movie keeps the viewer in it's grip. The tribulations of an American GI during the Ardennes offensive and the people he encounters, keeps you riveted all the way through the unexpected ending. Great characters in a cold and snowy Belgium. I saw this movie in the early 70's and still remember it clearly. Most movies I usually forget.

A WW II, battle of the bulge, road trip movie

[facebook-50467 · 8/10 · 28 December 2021]

I am not going to differentiate between my opinion and facts. Please take this from the context.

First off, the acting is mostly terrible and many scenes seem very amateurish for what we are used to.

Secondly, you need to watch the movie with its original audio otherwise you are missing the point of the movie.

Thirdly, some scenes are very realistic, because they are real. For the making of the movie they had assistance from the military and I know for a fact that they actually did shoot the tanks that are shown being shot. I do not have information on scenes not including tanks, but some of them look real to me as well.

Here are the things that make this movie good: The scenery: Everything shown is a good depiction of the time period.

The characters: The characters are complex, all characters. The movie manages to make that clear in the very short time that some characters are involved.

The conflicts and challenges: Conflicts, challenges and tensions between and for the characters are authentic, typical for the time and situations and they occur at a realistic frequency. There are no superficial elements to create extra drama. This movie works with what could have been real.

Here is what would have made this movie great: Language and culture and its effect on the characters: As mentioned above, you have to watch this movie with the original audio. I wrote this review only, because this is so remarkable and I cannot remember this being used so well in a movie.

The characters all have different native languages and very different language skills in foreign languages. They also encounter characters from other cultures with other languages. And this is very realistic for the situation that they are in and any persons in real life would have had exactly that to deal with on top of the other problems that they were facing.

What this movie actually does is lead the main characters through scene after scene that are sometimes very different. That is why I wrote "road trip movie" in the headline, because it is really a group traveling and encountering other people, as in typical road trip movies. And each scene or encounter is very different due to cultural backgrounds and language skills. They will speak English, French, German, (Belgian?), get talked to in a not understandable language and it does not only change how they interact with the other characters, but it also changes the dynamics within their group, which then changes the whole encounter. There are huge and sudden shifts in the group dynamics many times and they are all very realistic. I find the authors have very well understood the culture and manner of the main characters and how this would express itself and resonate within the group or towards characters they encounter.

As a viewer you could decide to watch this with sub-titles in your language and then your language will not have sub-tittles, if it is spoken. Or, if you have similar language skills to one of the main characters, you watch it without subtitles and can experience the scenes as that character would have.

Side note: The German is weird. The actor is definitely capable of sounding 100% native (must have insanely gifted musical ear and voice control) and does so for as long as 3 or 4 sentences at a stretch. Also, he is yelling in German in one scene and he sounds spot on, when he is yelling as well. There would be no way to tell that he is not German. Then, it is completely different suddenly and he has a heavy accent. This changes back and forth throughout the movie. I wonder how that happened. (It does not seem dubbed.)

Point deductions: The plot: I deduct one point for the plot. Overall, it is a good plot. It is mostly realistic and personally I need that in this kind of movie. There were one or two times though, where I was thinking that they should have definitely done it differently and could have, also.

Acting: I was thinking of deducting a point for this or not.

Not certain about this, but I believe that they cast veterans.

I see good movement and very efficient handling of equipment in the movie and it is something that actors just cannot do.

It takes actual soldiers to look like soldiers.

While I greatly appreciate this, I still deducted a point for it, because of how horrible the acting is in some scenes.

In summary, with original audio this movie is really good in showing the effects of language and culture for situations. There are some very realistic scenes of fighting, moving in hostile environment and encounters between soldiers and civilians. Deductions for partly very bad acting and the one or two slip-ups in script and props.