Load of rubbish!!

Brilliant and touching

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

I'm not one of those who get my history from films (or think I know a book because I saw the film it's based on) but if you're going to put such a tagline at the beginning of a film make sure there's some semblance of truth to it. Fiction from the beginning: 101st Airborne were not at the Malmedy Massacre, did not take place in the massacre and pretty much, in my opinion, insults the mainly 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion who were. There are little nitpicks, of course, but that's huge. It's like the film U- 571 saying it was the American Navy who got the first Enigma machine when that was total fiction when in fact the HMS Bulldog of Britain's Royal Navy got the first one in 1941, and the US Navy only got one and that was in 1944 well after the British had already cracked the code. That's the biggest problem with American films such as these: they always have to be the heroes but not just the heroes: the first heroes, the ultimate heroes etc., everyone else pales in comparison (I'm American, by the by). There's a difference between being patriotic and just claiming patriotism that was never there to begin with.The only evidential events in this is the battles and places they mention; everything else is speculation and fiction for other purposes. Which is fine but be honest about it, at least. According to the commentary of the film on what actually is true are insignificant things (two guys of the same religion on different sides -- so what? It's like all Nazis were atheists, or something? -- a German POW made his food look like an angel: again: like all Nazis or Waffen-SS etc., were atheists? -- some US soldiers hid under a floor while Germans ate above them. So what? You know how many Jews during the war did that?) This film sure isn't about the Malmedy Massacre because that's that's over in the first five minutes. So, what is this film about? Four (or five) guys try to get to Allied lines without getting captured by the Germans. No. It's not about that. Oh, they got some intelligence by a British pilot they run into and must get that to the allies! No. Not about that, either. So what is it about? It's about the Mormon church (LDS) promoting Mormonism. That's what it's about. Now while it's finely thinned, not directly mentioned it is there and mainly with the main character who carries around his Book of Mormon (not the OT/NT Bible) and attempts to vainly convert another of the four who keeps pushing him away until the very end when he takes it from him at last. No more being a godless heathen atheist but now sees the light and becomes a Mormon, per sé. I'm sure that's the ultimate message.Eh, as an overall film: it wasn't that bad but it gets, at least from me, major points taken away by not displaying the actual battalion because, I feel, that does a disservice to those who not only died but also survived.

Four American soldiers escape after the Germans massacre POW early in the Battle of the Bulge. They rescue a British flyer who has important information. The five men try to return back to the Allied lines through hostile territories.It's a pretty simple story for most of the movie. The characters are written with some interesting personalities. However the actors can't exceed what's on the page. They just don't have the power to fill the screen. Corbin Allred probably comes the closest to something great. At the end of the day, this is a low budget affair. The big action scenes in the last 15 minutes probably ate up most of the money. It would be great to see some first rate actors take up these roles instead.

Saints & Soldiers tells the story of few soldiers behind enemy lines trying to make it through by supporting & understanding each other,the age old message being delivered with it..team work is always above your own comforts when lives are at stake.The film is merely 80minutes long but is so well made that at the end you feel satisfied & more or less emphatic.It depicts that during a time of crises even small things have big values which we don't understand unless we need them.In every war there are proficient soldiers on both side who obviously treat each other with disdain & hatred but exceptions are always there,the film is sort of a short story covering all the above aspects at some levels,its a brilliant movie and from my side i give it perfect score as far as entertainment goes.Good story,great performance,good subject matter...pretty much sums it all up,i am sure that you r gonna have a great time enjoying this one....

Saints and Soldiers (2003)A World War II movie made in the 21st Century has to have something new to say, and this one attempts to do that with gritty, intimate realism. It succeeds in that, to some extent, but it also has some familiar clichés in the dialog and the general plot details which cover familiar ground.The scenario starts with some fast cutting that creates a sense of danger and drama with some sacrifice of logic. We just know things go badly for the Americans. Then it follows some stragglers who have survived, and things grow gradually more coherent. As the men come to know, and not completely like, each other, they form bonds that get tested, and there is heartbreak and hardship enough for anyone.What holds all of this up is a modern sense of full color, in your face hell. Not the hell of bloody conflict (there is a little of that here and there) but of fighting the snow and the cold and the fear of not making it, of dying. Some of the clichés really are a drag, however, such as a little cabin in the middle of nowhere where a bombshell of a French beauty is making bread by hand, a 78 record playing in the background, and she welcomes them (after a brief knife-wielding hesitation) with a kiss on each cheek. It's super sweet, but it's exactly what turns this movie into a fantasy now and then. Great intentions overrun with wishful daydreams.