Saints and Soldiers: l'honneur des paras

Of the deluge of low budget World War II movies coming out of both Europe and the USA this little indie effort is better than most. I can see where great care has been given here to getting people who sound German to speak German, French to speak French. It may not have been shot in the South of France, but the DOP has spent some considerable care to give the film the warm tones of that part of Europe and the CGI shots blend nicely to convince of this too.

The plot is a little wish washy, men taking part in Dragoon, (The invasion of the South of France, August 1944) end up helping the French resistance on an unrelated mission. The number of characters is kept small and simple and the action scenes are nicely directed. The acting here is earnest, the cast aren't going to win any Oscars, but they don't make the mistake of over selling their performances like so many inexperienced actors would. Everyone here does a good job.

Its a small film and a small story, so don't be expecting Band of Brothers, but its well made with care and love and a great example of how to make a small but interesting film, as opposed to the terrible 'Rhineland' which felt like a bunch of re-in-actors out on a jolly. Here you can tell everyone involved wanted to make a good authentic film with a bit of heart, they succeeded.

If you liked the original your unlikely to be too disappointed, I personally wasn't and this has made it into my WW2 Collection.

On August 15, 1944 the 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team (PRCT) jumped over the south of France. Their mission was to support and protect the Allied Troops heading to Berlin . Landing in enemy territory , they fell under immediate attack . The combat team of regiment of parachutists is formed by Cpl. James Rossi (Corbin Allred), Sgt. Caleb Jones David Nibley and Cpl. Harland 'Bud' Curtis (Jasen Wade). They must now battle roving German troops and to back to allied territory in their effort to complete the mission and rendez-vous with their unit . The small band of soldiers come across stranded a resistance fighter woman . They decide to help liberate some of the captive Partisans who have valuable information to be delivered to Allied forces . Doing so they'll suffer a lot of dangers and will risk their lives . The group forms a fragile bond as they begin to trust each other . But the constant threat of capture , as well as mounting suspicions of German soldiers posing as US troopers , threaten to tear them apart . As this tiny band must take on the countryside with enemy troops to fight their way back to occupied territory .

Based on actual WWII events, "Saints and Soldiers : Airbone creed" tells the dramatic story of a trio of Allied soldiers trapped behind enemy lines and their mission is to support allied troops marching to Berlin . This is the sequel to the award-winning ¨Saints and soldiers¨ dealing with the Battle of the Bulge and survivors a massacre in Malmedy, in which German soldiers open fire on the unarmed prisoners in a tragic event . ¨Saint and soldiers : Airbone creed¨ has action , crossfire , thrills , warfare feats and dramatic situations . This is a war movie in which predominates the stories and situations of the protagonists on the war itself made , so although there are moments of action and struggle there are also thought-provoking events and some flashbacks recording their life . The story is a typical strategic military adventure where they have to complete an assignment , which is used to move the story filled with interesting ideas and thoughtful dialogues . Good acting from main cast playing three isolated paratroopers who come across a group of French resistants in desperate need, they are Corbin Allred as Cpl. James Rossi , David Nibley as Sgt. Caleb Jones and Jasen Wade as Cpl. Harland 'Bud' Curtis . In fact , this movie is realized in memory of Harland , ¨Bud¨, Curtis . All guns used in the film are authentic and fully-functional, modified to shoot blanks . More than 5,000 blank rounds were used in filming and several war re-enactors volunteered to participate in filming . The good thing is its ambiance and photography, with excellent landscapes and dense atmospheres of war and violence.

The motion picture was professionally photographed and directed by Ryan Little . Ryan was presented with a Student Emmy at the 1999 Academy of Television Arts & Science College Television Awards, for "Best Dramatic Film": The Last Good War . Little has directed a few but acceptable movies such as ¨Outlaw Trail: The Treasure of Butch Cassidy¨ , ¨House of fears¨ , ¨Forever strong¨, ¨Age of the dragons¨ and is filming the third part titled ¨Saints and soldiers : the void¨ .

Overall 'Airborne Creed' is a good film. It is beautifully shot and the main characters are quite convincing (contrary to the dialogues which often are not). All in all the story is fairly decent (although historically inaccurate, to say the least) but also very predictable; they could have got much more out of it. What makes the film average at best is firstly its Hollywoodesque usage of music. The soundtrack is "so heroic and mournful you can almost picture the tears running down the musician's face" (Yahtzee); it forces emotions down the viewer's throat rather than letting them experience themselves. Secondly, the potential of the film's portrayal of good & evil was barely exploited. Why is it that in American films the heroes always die a slow, painful death, whereas for the enemy it is 'one shot, one kill'? It is really not necessary to refuse giving the enemy a face to make the audience understand who/what is good or evil; after all, the story of 'Airborne Creed' clearly shows that the makers were thinking further than this black/white image and striving to add some shades of grey to it. It is a shame they dared not follow this insight consistently.

I enjoyed the first Saints and Soldiers movie back in 2003, & was surprised at how good Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed was on the second go around. The acting was very good from the top three GI's & also give top marks to the German officer as well as the cute little French freedom fighter. The reason for my high marks of the film also come the above story, writing & direction of the movie. The combat had good as flow as well, but mainly it was just a top notch story. If you have a chance to see Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed, get it a watch, it was well worth the hour & half of my time.

Again give Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed your time.

Movies aren't necessarily made to be historically correct (anybody seen Star Wars, or Guardians of the Galaxy). This was quite true to the time period. In the end, it was a very enjoyable movie, and presented a "human" side of people. I wish we actually had that in our real lives here in the US. A great movie to help us leave politics WAY behind.