The Director is so at home with this sort of stuff. That is Characters, their faces and their World gone wrong predicaments. This study of Men in the Korean War Conflict is a scathing, gritty, realism counterpointed by a slight Artistic Touch.
It has a fine cast with standouts all around, led by one of the Screen's most intense Actors, Robert Ryan. Fans of War Movies may find this a bit too Psychological with its lack of Action made more intense by a claustrophobic feeling of closed quarters in a wide open landscape.
The Camera lingers and the perspective is odd giving this a phantasmagorical feel. Things seem real but not really. This becomes, at times, unbearably Suspenseful and that's what its all about. Men in War and that's not a comfortable thing. Neither is this Movie and that's the point.
The Korean Conflict, as this Movie illustrates, was an unsettling and confusing inclusion that was a hard fit for America's usual clear and decisive fight for Freedom. It foreshadowed a forever blurring line that would Haunt our Military to this day. From this point on there was no longer a sharp Good vs Evil template that could be embraced by everyone, no matter Ideology or Political leaning.
It has a fine cast with standouts all around, led by one of the Screen's most intense Actors, Robert Ryan. Fans of War Movies may find this a bit too Psychological with its lack of Action made more intense by a claustrophobic feeling of closed quarters in a wide open landscape.
The Camera lingers and the perspective is odd giving this a phantasmagorical feel. Things seem real but not really. This becomes, at times, unbearably Suspenseful and that's what its all about. Men in War and that's not a comfortable thing. Neither is this Movie and that's the point.
The Korean Conflict, as this Movie illustrates, was an unsettling and confusing inclusion that was a hard fit for America's usual clear and decisive fight for Freedom. It foreshadowed a forever blurring line that would Haunt our Military to this day. From this point on there was no longer a sharp Good vs Evil template that could be embraced by everyone, no matter Ideology or Political leaning.