Reviews

For a system that endured about seventy years,it is amazing how so few movies have really given us a sense of what life there was like,and this movie does it brilliantly and flawlessly. While the background is the big falsehoods of soviet Russia,like baiting émigrés to return,only to take revenge for the sin of yearning freedom,the true power of the movie is in penetrating and superb description of everyday's life,the housing with shared common facilities,total lack of minimal privacy,"shopping"Russian style,and the pervasive drinking. I had the feeling of being and living in one of those housing units as I was watching the film. The plot is superb,full of surprising twists and the acting,all the way down to the smaller roles,is perfect. The movie is a true gem.The only achievement of the late Soviet regime is its success in hiding the true nature of life behind the Iron Curtain for so many years

This is not a documentary,but propaganda,pure and simple.There is no mention of another point of view,the other side is only an amorphous "jews"(so much for accuracy). Had this been a theater review it would start in act three or four and leave you in the dark as to what happened in the first acts. For reasons known to the maker of this leftist propaganda piece,the focus is on children,surprisingly mixing formal language and vernacular(am I wrong in suspecting that their utterances have been scripted?).Formal language is not used frequently in ordinary talk. Could not the maker of the piece at least pay a lip service to the word documentary and include Israeli casualties?. What we watch here is a coin that is one sided,and we are owed the missing side.

The movie is real art,a true classic.While some classic movies convey,directly or indirectly, a message,this movie,like true art, has none. I find it to be a director's movie,weaving together romance,violence,passion,humor,human endurance,coalescing towards the attack on Pearl Harbor. Among the numerous talents involved in making the film,I cannot single out any particular role,except for the director,Fred Zinneman,and the casting director-just watch the company segeant,in army khakis,and you say to yourself he must have been groomed by his parents since early childhood for his military role.Burt Lancaster is indeed unforgettable as Warden. Other salient performances are Philip Ober as Captain Holmes,the antithesis of military leadership,and Montegomery Clift,an early method actor,playing the undrdog,a perrenial loser. As to the famous beach scene,I tried to analyze where its power and intensity come from.I believe it is an example of superb directing,using the viewers prior knowledge of plot and characters,with the beach scene being the tip of an emotional iceberg,possibly similar to Alfred Hitchcock's approach toward thrill. Time did to this movie what it does to good wine,enhance its flavor and enjoyment.