Fort McCoy

The story is a little simple and sentimental, but I didn't have any expectations. I think the cast does a good job with the material that doesn't have enough time to fully flesh out the characters. Eric Stoltz is good too; I never really understood why he didn't get bigger roles. Maybe, his roles will get a second wind when he doesn't look 13. It's a little bit Leave It To Beaver, so is probably popular with the Christian crowd.

I found the movie randomly on Netflix but I clicked on it because I was a kid on Ft. McCoy as well. There were only about 4 kids on the post in 1978, and I do remember a 1950's purity of living there. We lived so far apart we never saw each other except when a jeep picked us up to take us into the schools in Sparta. The POW fences and towers remained, but it was a ghost town except in the summer when reservists showed up to bomb the ranges into oblivion. Years later, after we left, they would turn the barracks, not the compounds into a camp for Cuban "refugees." The movie captured a certain feel to the place that I liked...beautiful woods, Squaw lake, and some old fashioned values that remained on army posts into the 80's at least. It was a fun place to be a kid but the movie only has time to give you a glimpse of that.

The setup: Stoltz moves with his family to become a barber for the American army's POW camp at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, in the summer of 1944. Embittered that he cannot fight, he must take a stand when a Nazi officer threatens his wife.

The verdict: It's an important film. It will either surprise or disappoint you, depending on what your expectations are. Stoltz proves he's still got some ham in the old acting can. Acting is all-around good. The first 30 minutes are is a lot of fun and rather cleverly made. My only problem with the film was the supporting cast. 7 out of 10.

I liked this film a lot...especially the budding love between the two innocent children swept up in the harsh realities of war and all it's causalities--super sweet and a wonderful juxtaposition. The production was more intimate than I imagine the real Camp McCoy was, but it only reflects the constraints of what I imagine the indie budget allowed. But it's really well done and the cast is solid across the board, especially the kids mentioned above.

Overall I'm a bit disappointed. I thought this would be an interesting period piece, and I'm a fan of (looking at) Lyndsy Fonseca, who I think is the most beautiful actress out there.

While watching this film I kept having to remind myself that it was filmed 5 years ago. Perhaps during this time, Lyndsy Fonseca has gotten a ton of experience from filming Nikita, Kick Ass, etc. and took lots of acting classes. Honestly I thought her acting was stiff and basically poor in this. The beginning scenes were especially tough to watch.

Getting past that, Eric Stoltz carried the film and delivered a believable performance. I think the supporting cast let him down. Also I wish they had developed some of the story lines of these characters a little bit better. I will say I think the kids in the film did a good job.

I was looking forward to seeing the depiction of a US POW camp. After seeing the film, I question their depiction of the prison camp. The real Fort McCoy was/is huge. There were 4000+ POW's there. From this film, you'd think it was a small place where everyone knew each other. The budget probably made it necessary to slim things down quite a bit.

Fort McCoy is one of those smaller films that pretty much slipped through the cracks of audience exposure but was deserving of more attention. Stars Eric Stoltz and Kate Connor give very decent performances along with the entire cast. And because the film is based on a true story related to Connor, its significance is amplified. It's probably a safe bet that few people know much about WWII POW camps that operated in the U.S., and that in itself is enlightening. It's also beautifully filmed and well produced for its relatively modest budget. Even the score is well done. Connor proves to be a very competent actress we should hope to see more of. It's also nice to see Cameron Manheim in a modest role.