During the last days of the Great War, a group of U.S. soldiers are sent behind enemy lines to rescue a lost platoon.
As a primer for the many idiocies comprising World War I, “The Great War” steps up admirably to the plate. Chief among the parade of follies on display would be the penchant for ordering waves of troops to storm headlong into raw machine gunfire. Another would be the constant deference to political considerations as the basis for decisions that result in life and death consequences for the ordinary Joes on the front lines.
The focus of this World War I tale centers on the plight of an all-black platoon cut off behind enemy lines after their heroic capture of a strategic hill. With an armistice just hours away, enthusiasm by high-level commanders for further advances has waned considerably. In fact, the first thought by the captains and generals behind the scenes consists of simply abandoning the soldiers of color stranded in the field. Eventually, however, cooler heads prevail. Headquarters sanctions a rescue mission – not so much due to good intentions, but rather to avoid embarrassment because the platoon unexpectedly encroached too far into German-occupied lands.
Ron Perlman does a fine job as General John “Black Jack” Pershing, responsible in real life for integrating all-black units with the French army during World War I. Bill Zane also lends gravitas to the production as Colonel Jack Morrison, Pershing’s chief sounding board. Together, they grapple with the dilemma of balancing war office directives against the perilous situation faced by their men on the ground.
Bates Wilder as Captain William Rivers and Hiram A. Murray as Private John Cain drive the main narrative. Rivers owes a debt to Cain, and for this and other reasons, he refuses to abide by the unchecked racism that permeates officers and enlisted men alike. Wilder carries the story admirably as he wrestles with both his conscience and a clear-cut case of post-traumatic stress disorder. Murray delivers a solid performance demonstrating intelligence and empathy – anxious to find his lost comrades but also unremittingly navigating the racial prejudice leveled at him from all sides in the trenches.
Periodically, the battle scenes run long, unnecessarily glorifying the deadly skirmishes as a path to ethnic harmony. “The Great War” shines brightest when depicting the honest and frank interaction between Irish, Italian and African soldiers, with the European immigrants to the U.S. eventually rising above their base instincts. The film also addresses the absurdity of war while illuminating how the pervasive politics stands in the way of a cessation of hostilities.
Written and directed by Steven Luke, “The Great War” offers a fresh take on the first world war that politicians and historians began to number sequentially. Similar to “1917,” the material presented charts new territory in a genre that can all too easily descend into stale cliché.
Available on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital) and DVD February 11th from Lionsgate
