Saints and Soldiers: Le sacrifice des blindés

There is always some controversies, when it comes to low budget and Indie films, about the right way to rate them in comparison with regular productions. Somebody feels that since you must judge the overall result, if it is manifestly lower than a similar film made by some Major, you have to state it. Plain and simple.

Some others think that since it's obvious that they cannot meet bigger productions standards, you have to appreciate the good things they show (if any) and be happy with it. I don't know where to stand but I'm more inclined towards this second party, at least for the present movie.

I found this film entertaining and even if they had just four tanks, two trucks, one house and one tent, they had very good dialogues and did an overall good job. All the gear looked stunningly brand new and this may be the way things looked back in 1944, I don't know, surely it appeared to be a precise artistic choice which I won't judge.

If you would compare it to a major production its correct rate would be 4. If you ask yourself what would anybody be able to do with the same stuff, then I think it deserves an 8.

I liked the previous Saints and Soldiers movies. As long as the combat is realistic and the plot good I am not to worried about special effects. This movie was one long sermon on how racist Whites are. I can understand introducing the idea but devoting an entire film to the concept got old really quickly. Every time you thought the plot was going to get going in came yet another sermon. I managed to watch the whole movie but barely. If I want to be preached at I'll go to church not watch a war movie. I do not care much about people's skin color and I think every living American is abundantly aware of the prejudice in America prior to the 60s. No need to go on and on about it until you start rooting for the Germans just to shut the guy up.

This film essentially begins on the closing days of World War 2 in Europe with an American tank company liberating a POW camp deep inside Germany. Naturally, needing to evacuate the POWs back to the rear, several trucks are sent to transport them while at the same time two tank destroyers are ordered to clear out a company of German soldiers who have dug in at a small town not too far away. Yet even though the trucks are sent in the opposite direction, two of them are forced to take a detour and because of that they run right into a German ambush which kills everyone except the driver of one of the trucks named "Jesse Owens" (K. Danor Gerald) and a British POW by the name of "Lieutenant Goss" (Ben Urie). Luckily, they not only manage to escape from the Germans, but they also just happen to meet up with the two tank destroyers and warn them of the ambush as well. To that effect, figuring that they have the edge because they have two tank destroyers and the element of surprise on their side, the decision is made to attack the German ambush site immediately instead of waiting for infantry support. What they fail to realize, however, is that the German tanks are commanded by an extremely skilled panzer officer and that whatever advantage the Americans think they have is negligible at best. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this movie started off really well, but it seemed to transition somewhere along the way into a lecture about the need for better race relations instead. And while I admire the thought behind it all, I must say that this underlying message seemed a bit too obvious at times and the film suffered as a result. That being said, I have rated this movie accordingly. Average.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Saints and Soldiers trilogy, these are low budget WW2 movies, set on the Western Front, the first was in late 1944, during The Battle of The Bulge, the second was set in the South of France during Operation Anvil and the 3rd, this one is set in 1945 in Germany and the plot isn't that much different from the bigger budgeted 'Fury' - A group of two American Hellcat Tank Destroyers are to scout an area known as 'The Void' (I can't find any reference to this area in history, but here the context is that its Indian country) meanwhile a group of troopers being transported by the Redball Express, driven by none other than Jesse Owens himself is ambushed by a squadron of dated German Mark III Panzers, an English Agent is in the group who make their escape - soon the Hellcats arrive and its a question of who can outsmart who in the skirmish that follows.

If you look through my other reviews you will see I like all kinds of movies but I am something of a WW2 buff and its always interesting to see these films, clearly made with love and care. Little here tries to put as much as he can in every shot to increase Production Value and it extra shots have been added to make the place feel more like Germany / Austria and less like Utah where it was filmed. For the most part this works, along with a heavy de- saturation of color in the edit suite, making you feel like the film is almost black and white and giving it the appropriate vintage feel. I recently also reviewed Allies and its easy to compare these two films, probably both having similar budgets and using resources from Tank Collectors and re-inactors. Allies is probably the superior of the two movies, but SAS - The Void is not without its great moments of action and tension. Some of the actors are good too but sadly this makes the weaker performances stand out all the more and these aren't helped by some very over stated dialogue. Little needs to team up with a good writer next time but also trust in his best actors to deliver more emotion with less words on some key scenes. Here and there dialogue is forced to explain things too much, but never the less what you have here is actually a great little film. Its well researched and feels bigger than it actually is, there is nice sense of scale and battle in the climax. Its biggest flaw is that its very hard to make a film shot in the States actually feel like Europe unless you can drop in some blue screen shots of European Towns or Villages (or Alternatively build one as they did in Fury) still with the obvious restraints of budget you have to commend Little's effort because it tries really hard with every shot to make the location feel European.

I think this is a great film, with good attention to detail that is let down by some aspects that were clearly beyond the control or means of the production financially but with stronger writing it could have been a stronger film still. Worth watching and I look forward to Little's next film War Pigs, which has some big names in the cast - he has earned his shot to make a bigger movie, that is for sure.

This film illustrates the brilliance of the nascent Saints and Soldiers franchise and after watching The Void, you'll pray that more installments are coming.

The first few scenes have some clumsy, cheesy dialogue that tries to develop the characters. That's on the director's shoulders. But stick around--the real character development and some quality acting comes once the shells and bullets start to fly.

This is a compelling plot--an African American soldier is, through no fault of his own, thrown in with a couple of tank crews with a few men who don't want him around.

I won't spoil a thing. If you can get through the first 20 minutes or so, then prepare for very good war story that shows what all men are made of in a foxhole.

The score is fantastic, too. This doesn't rise past 8/10 because of the cheesy stuff early on and some improbable scenes during firefights (plenty of those, too).

We can only hope that the S&S rights owners have many more such fine films in development.