08/15

Everyone that expects a war movie like "The Bridge" or "The longest day" will probably be quite disappointed after seeing this movie. However, I never found a movie which captures the atmosphere of a soldiers life and problems better than 08/15.

This is not a film that focuses on historical battles or dramatic highlights in WW2, but rather on a common soldiers life and his chaotic way through the war.

Even during the second episode, which plays at the ostfront its never the war which the main focus is on but the ordinary soldiers and their interactions.

This movie isn't actually a war movie but covers the life of German conscripts on the eve of the second world war. They are in the hands of ruthless and sadistic NCOs who are constantly trying to impose harsh measures against the men. The officers on the contrary are shown much more civilized and see themselves somehow as a father-figure. The tension between the privates and their superiors forms hard bonds of friendship between them, although they come from very different social backgrounds. Private Vierbein and Gefreiter Asch are the two protagonists of this film. Vierbein is a sensible piano-player that detests the rudeness and the lack of privacy in the barracks. However he is deeply in love with Asch's sister, who is a full-propagandized Nazi-BDM-girl and demands of him to become an officer. In this tension, he attempts suicide on the shooting range but is hindered by Asch. With Vierbeins stolen ammunition and deep knowledge of the internal processes, the practical and clever Asch is able to land a brilliant coup and to get his nasty superiors all removed from the unit. The film ends with the beginning of the second world war. Many stereotypes about the different ranks were included in the film and in some cases they were played out excessively. Still many German soldiers may find similarities from some of their own experience.

The discussion on the topic of the wehrmacht´s crimes is on again in germany since a new exhibition was on the road last year... Now here´s a picture from the mid-fifties that takes a look at a simple soldier in the third reich´s regular army: A whole different perspective. Sure, there are no war crimes in it though the wehrmacht committed war crimes - especially in eastern europe - no doubt about it. Still, the partly authentic atmosphere - as I suppose - is the result of the little time that went by from the war to the making of this movie - only 9 years after ww2. Very entertaining, but the books are even better.