War-torn Italy, 1943, somewhere in the Apennine mountains: A small German reconnaissance squad (Bernd Wittneben, Kevin Sinic, Yony Marian, Bart Voitila, Kevin Czako, Vick Medina) is to look for a pocket of US soldiers still believed in the area that's by and large under German control - but they get in an ambush, are shot at and all severely wounded, and are ultimately taken prisoners by an American scout squad (Jared Becker, Joe Bongiovanni, Jake Powers, Maxwell David Marcus, Kyle Yaskin, David Morales, Craig Jordan). A mortar attack from sources unknown forces both the Americans and their prisoners to seek refuge in a nearby cave, where tensions soon rise, not only between the Americans and the Germans, but also within the American squad, inasmuch as some of them want to just kill the Germans while their Sarge (Jared Becker) insists on treating them humanely and sends one of his men (Craig Jordan) to fetch a couple of medics. Only, the medics don't come, and with their wounds untreated, the German die a drawn out death ...

A pretty shocking film about the horrors of war, made all the more compelling by writer/director Michael Akkerman to blindly choose side, instead making characters on both sides fallible and relatable - and ultimately just cannon fodder in a bigger scheme of things. And while the film's rather poor on actual action for a war film, it more than makes up for it in terms of atmosphere, using its locations to the greatest effect while making the tension palpable, also of course thanks to a very solid cast. That said, this isn't exactly an uplifting movie, but one that will remain with you for quite a bit after watching.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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