The Bridge (1959)

Director: Bernhard Wicki

Starring: Folker Bohnet, Fritz Wepper, Michael Hinz, Frank Glaubrecht, Karl Michael Balzer

More info: IMDb

Tagline: They look for love in a world of violence!

Plot: A group of German boys is ordered to protect a small bridge in their home village during the waning months of the second world war. Truckloads of defeated, cynical Wehrmacht soldiers flee the approaching American troops, but the boys, full of enthusiasm for the "blood and honor" Nazi ideology, stay to defend the useless bridge.

My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again? Ja! Ja!

Very good war drama focusing on the idealistic teens who can't see the end and their fates in front of their faces. There's a good deal of time building up to the fateful battle facing the kids on the bridge. The battle itself is brutal and the black & white photography only adds to the bleakness of it all. The ending will leave you angry that war exists and how countless of innocent lives are destroyed on behalf of stupid politicians. It's not often you get to see an unflinching look at what it must have been like for civilian Germans during the second world war. I'm looking forward to seeing it again and perhaps finding more movies from the German perspective.