Saints and Soldiers: l'honneur des paras

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¨ .

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.

It is just historically inaccurate. The one GI's girlfriend gives him a camera and tells him to send her a photo, every week. Duh,is it a digital camera or a Polaroid? Of course not so where does he get that film developed...Adolf's One Hour Photo? Also, this chick's hair is very modern looking, definitely not a 40's hairstyle. When the GI with the mo-hawk is with his original unit, he is wearing a plain helmet. Later, it sprouts netting. The one guy's helmet has a paratrooper chin strap and the other guy's does not. In addition, the french resistance girl has zip up boots, not authentic to the period. We make a big deal of D- Day and the war in Europe but keep in mind that 69% of the German Army and 90% of the elite troops were deployed on the Russian Front.

OK, enough of the negative. I do feel that the actors tried really hard to do a good job and Lincoln Hoppe had very good intentions, trying to show soldiers on both sides as people, not just stereotypes. As a whole, this is a watchable and entertaining movie. I enjoyed the special features as well as the film.

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.

Yes, the film is low budget, and the combat scenes show this, however. the movie follows group of paratroopers who meet local french resistance and set out to free there friends and rejoin the rest of their stick. Then i wont ruin the film for you but the story changes from what i feel was meant to be the real story, but still good none the less. This movie isn't a huge blockbuster gripping film but VERY moving and an emotional movie to watch. If your expecting saving private Ryan don't waste your time, its not like that but still a good movie to watch. I think this movie depicts human nature and the stresses of war more than anything else. Doesn't sound great I know. But watch it. you will be pleasantly surprised.