Robert-Lander

Do not expect a classic military comedy, which claims to make fun of the military while only enhancing a militaristic outlook. Instead it deconstructs the elements that make the military such a murderous machine. Kind of East German version of "Buffalo Soldiers".

"NVA" works on a meta-level that it sympathizes with its heroes' attempts to escape from army drill any which way they can. It's not about loud laughs but about long lasting smiles. Utopian, of course (in one scene you will be shown the harsh reality), but very thoughtful.

Just to fill the required 10 lines: Do not go into that movie if you have been an army officer and liked your job.

You may regard the 1946 version as a classic because of the Bogart-Bacall pairing. As a literary adaptation, this version, however, is much better.

First of all, the plot stays true to the novel, whereas the older version had a plot ruined by the restrictions of the Hayes code, so that it contains numerous loose ends and unexplained developments.

Secondly, Robert Mitchum impersonates Marlowe much better that Humphrey Bogart. Bogart essentially recycles his role of Sam Spade in "The Maltese Falcon". Yet, Spade and Marlowe are very different characters. While Spade is a cynic who just barely remembers the remnants of morality (and Bogart is brilliant in that role), Marlowe is way beyond that point. He walks around people in a distanced, almost detached way. Only when he spots a glimpse of humanity in his fellow men, he is willing to engage himself (as with General Sternwood in "The Big Sleep"). Mitchum plays this character with great understatement, as it should be done, while Bogart makes Marlowe just another hard-boiled detective, which could be replaced by any other one.

Finally, both Sarah Miles and Candy Clark (while not being necessarily great actresses) bring over the lunacy of the Sternwood daughters beautifully. While the scenes between Bacall and Bogart a great, they are out of place in this plot, in which there is no place left for romance. It might have been appropriate for the characters of Marlowe and Linda Loring in "The Long Goodbye", but hardly in a movie adaption of a novel, in which Marlowe remarks "both Sternwood women were giving him hell".

So, while this movie transfers the plot to another time and another place, it is a much better adaption of the novel than the version often regarded as a classic.

How comes talented people produce crap like this. There is a decent director (Bringmann directed the fine road movie "Theo gegen den Rest der Welt"), a good script-writer (Kahl co-wrote the sharp and witty "Wir können auch anders"), talented actors (Potente and Milberg were brilliant together (or apart) in "Nach 5 im Urwald") trying a remake of one of the best German comedies ("Die drei von der Tankstelle") and they come up with one of the worst movies of the decade. Ok, this was intended to be a vehicle to put Wigald Boning's TV comedy onto the big screen, but this does not excuse everything.

If you want to see a good movie, avoid this one and try one of the other films mentioned. If you want to see a bad movie, avoid this one as well as this is not even one of the "so bad it is actually good"-type. On the other hand, if you want to see the worst movie Franka Potente has ever starred in (and hopefully and in all likelihood will ever have starred in), this is the one to go to.