Some small Dutch village in 1914: Sure, the Germans have already invaded the country, but the war's still far away and doesn't even concern the locals who are much more interested in the village's own Romeo and Juliet story between Louise (Sasha Luss) and Adrien (James Downie), where their respective fathers, Dr. Janssen (Koen De Bouw) and farmer Leonard (Iain Glen) just don't see eye to eye. Then though, the Germans under Colonel von Rauch (Philippe Brenninkmeyer) do invade town, claiming to just want (as in want to steal) provisions and fuel, but things soon enough get out of hand and Adrien is shot dead by von Rauch's psychopath son Lauremtz (Joe Anderson) and his sister Johanna (Emma Dupont) is gravely wounded - all before both Leonard and Louise's very eyes ... and suddenly the war has really come to town. And seeing Adrien fall for no particular reason has finally formed a bond between Louise and Leonard who now try everything to get the locals out of town and over the border to France where they ought to be safe from the Germans at least for a while. But for Laurentz, the situation has become personal, and for some reason he has come to see Leonard as his mortal enemy - and he will stop and nothing to stop Leonard and company before he crosses the border. At the same time, Leonard has of course a bone to pick with Laurentz ...

Now ok, the personal vendetta theme has become somewhat of a cliché in war movies as well as cinema in general, and while mirroring the motive on both sides of the front might seem novel, it isn't exactly new. That said, where the film really succeeds is in portraying the utter futility of war: Here are people fighting over a modest and on the greater scale of things utterly unremarkable village, and even those in command (portrayed very well in the von Rauch-character) don't even have a clue why and start to doubt the rationale of their doing - while doing it. And that's what really stays with one after watching the movie, rather than the actual story itself, and there aren't many films that get this across this clearly, in their plot structure, their direction and their acting, as The Last Front does - and that makes it definitely worth a watch.

The Last Front comes to cinemas in the UK November 1st 2024.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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