Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

I was born in June, 1944 (when this film is set), about 25 miles from Fort McCoy. As I grew up I knew a number of people who had worked, as civilians, at Fort McCoy. I was very interested in seeing how the film would present the place and time, etc. Unfortunately, the screenplay is amateurish ,at best, the acting is wooden and the sets, such as they are, could be anywhere in a woods with a small river and a couple of buildings. This may well be a true story but it is told in a way that made me simply want to turn it off after about 20 minutes. I stayed with it, though...hoping for The Best. I didn't get it. There were lots of American soldiers at Fort McCoy at this time but you'd swear there were only 5-6 as you watch the film. Plus 5-6 Japanese PWS and maybe 10 German PWs (who, apparently, were allowed to wander around the place at all times of the day and night with no supervision). I'm sure the film was made on a small, small budget but that's no excuse. Seriously, I'm sorry I wasted my time on this little flick.

Kate Connor wrote and directed this affectionate and loving memoir of her family and the time they spent in Wisconsin at a place called Fort McCoy. Actually Camp McCoy, but I'll not quibble.Clan patriarch Eric Stoltz comes to the camp to be a barber for the GIs, he's got a heart murmur and is a 4-F. The same thing knocked with malaria knocked Errol Flynn out of war service. It grates on him constantly, both in looking at the kids going overseas and those coming back dead and alive. Even the Germans and Japanese who were captured get a bit of envy for their service.But wives and daughters also serve and the daughters form their own attachments to the soldiers, individually and collectively. Which brings me to the most poignant part of Fort McCoy. Young Gara Lonning entering puberty herself notices for the first time someone of the opposite sex. He happens to be Josh Zabel playing Heinrich who is a POW all of about 13 or so.There's a famous newsreel film of Hitler giving a pep talk to some Hitler youth now impressed into service for the Fatherland. By 1944 I'm sure many were dead and many prisoners of war. The little innocent attraction of Zabel and Lonning will wet the eyes and the ultimate tragedy reduce you to tears.Fort McCoy is a tale poignantly told and really should be seen to learn about how loss of innocence is too big a price for war.

What part of this is true? Camp (as it was then) McCoy was a POW camp ... that much is true. Officers were typically separated from enlisted. Nobody was allowed to where their uniforms. Where did the boy come from? Although the PW's were treated well (better that or troops were) they did not get to roam around at night. 'Frank' did nothing after the SS officer night walked in on his wife ... nope ... it was only after his daughter told him what she saw the SS officer did (yuk!!!)to the boy (Heinrich)that he manned up and went after the SS officer? True story? OK ...They go on a picnic with no food? Nobody cooked at all for this family? Certainly the mother didn't do much beside trot around being sensual? Answering the Camp switch board like it was a bordello? At the movies end ... some information on the 'real people' was given ... so ... what happened to her little brother? This movie was a waste of time to watch and a waste of time to make. People should not play with history.

Overall I'm a bit disappointed. I thought this would be an interesting period piece, and I'm a fan of (looking at) Lyndsy Fonseca, who I think is the most beautiful actress out there. While watching this film I kept having to remind myself that it was filmed 5 years ago. Perhaps during this time, Lyndsy Fonseca has gotten a ton of experience from filming Nikita, Kick Ass, etc. and took lots of acting classes. Honestly I thought her acting was stiff and basically poor in this. The beginning scenes were especially tough to watch. Getting past that, Eric Stoltz carried the film and delivered a believable performance. I think the supporting cast let him down. Also I wish they had developed some of the story lines of these characters a little bit better. I will say I think the kids in the film did a good job. I was looking forward to seeing the depiction of a US POW camp. After seeing the film, I question their depiction of the prison camp. The real Fort McCoy was/is huge. There were 4000+ POW's there. From this film, you'd think it was a small place where everyone knew each other. The budget probably made it necessary to slim things down quite a bit.