Review for The Bridge (Die Brücke)

Introduction

The back end of World War 2, the increasing defeats facing Nazi Germany on both the Eastern and Western Fronts, saw a desperate propaganda campaign to keep morale high but increase the fighting strength of Germany for the forthcoming invasion of the Fatherland.

The Volkssturm (People's Milita) was raised on October 18, 1944 and conscripted anyone between the ages of 16 and 60 that wasn't already serving the Reich in any kind of military capacity, this included many men already deemed unfit for military service. Shortages in equipment meant that most recruits had to bring their own uniforms or mess equipment, leading to a rather ragged appearance. Weapons wise, the Volkssturm were essentially limited to what was available at the time, which was mainly carbine rifles and panzerfaust anti-tank weapons.

Despite the ragtag nature of the Volkssturm, the members of this Home Guard accepted their orders without question and the young members in particular were still quite fanatical in their obedience of Hitler. One of Hitler's last acts prior to the defeat of Berlin in April 1945 was to wander out of his bunker to award the Iron Cross to a young member of the Volkssturm with no sense of irony that his grand plans for his master race were in ruins and he was honouring an act of bravery by a teenager in the bombed out wreck of his capital city.

Anyway, The Bridge explores the younger end of the Volkssturm with seven young school friends including Albert Mutz (François Goeske) being excused from school and conscripted into the People's Militia, billeted in tents by the river. Albert is a newcomer to the area after being bombed out of his previous home and billeted with the young Paula (Paula Schramm) and there's an unspoken attraction between the two.

A more direct attraction has emerged between widowed school teacher Elfie Bauer (Franka Potente) and Walter Forst (Lars Steinhöfel), who find each other after being strafed by a rather insistent American fighter pilot. Bauer has misgivings but the closeness of Forst and near death experience they shared pushes them together into what appears to be more of a sexual relationship rather than love. Forst is also the son of the local party official who uses his power to feather his own nest, not least in the sexual abuse of his young housekeeper.

The seven conscripts are given orders to hold the local bridge from the advancing Americans and are provisionally under the command of an experienced Corporal. The older man, however, realises the hopelessness of the situation and attempts to escape under cover of darkness disguised in civilian clothing, only to be executed by the dreaded Field Military Police. With no training and only rifles, things look a little bleak for the boys, especially when the youngest, Seigi (Florian Heppert), is killed during an attempted bombing of the bridge.

In the nick of time, a passing General shows the boys the best positions from which to hold the bridge and gives them an idea of the equipment they will need to maximise their defenses. A quick scavenger hunt in their now deserted camp finds them the equipment they need, and not a moment too soon either as the approaching Americans finally arrive…

Audio

This is a film that actually has the protagonists speaking their own languages with the main dialogue in German with English subtitles. Sadly though the subtitles cut out when the US soldiers or the youngsters speak English.

Extras

None…

Overall

In a review I wrote in the past I mentioned that elements of World War II had been missed so far by filmmakers and that stories such as the Volkssturm needed to be told. Now upon researching this film after viewing, I actually find that it's a remake of the 1959 film of the same name by Bernard Wicki and based on the novel by Manfred Gregor. Still, I feel that it's a story that needs to be retold as not many people will know of the 1959 film and modern cinematic effects and methods will probably have a greater impact on the story.

What I like about The Bridge is that for the most part, the youngsters fully ascribe to the Nazi ideals and follow their orders unquestioningly, even when appealed to by both their school teacher and Walter's Nazi Party official, whom the boys actually dangle off a bridge when he attempts to persuade them to go home. Now I don't like this because I believe it, but because it is an accurate portrayal of the betrayal of the young by their elders all the way to the top, who really didn't care who died in the service of the Fatherland in the final days of the Third Reich. You would think that the youngsters would see it themselves when waves of battered and wounded demoralised troops pass them in convoys with no one looking to help them out, but they just don't see it. Even the General who stops to help them out then disappears. Still, orders are orders…

The downside to this film is the subplot involving Franka Potente as the school teacher caught in a case of perverting a minor. Widowed by her husband being killed in the 1940 France campaign, you can feel sympathy for her as she is drawn in desperate times to a 16 year old, but the story gets a bit more murky and bogged down. The problem is that Potente's character is charged by the authorities but is still trying to get those same authorities to release the boys back to her care in the school. You're just not really sure if she's really looking after all of them or just trying to save her young lover, and this relationship doesn't necessarily follow conventional lines. The film would have been better without the complicated sexual entanglement in the middle of it.

What the film does amply demonstrate is the futility of war with the the seven youngsters slowly being whittled down in action, all of the deaths extremely needless in the end. The NCO in charge of the US forces doesn't particularly want to fight when he finds out his opposition are mere children and then behind the Volkssturm, a group of drunken sappers turn up with orders to blow up the bridge that they are trying to protect.

It's not a great film, but one that amply demonstrates the contradictory nature of war alongside that heroism that anyone can find within themselves during desperate times regardless of age.