When Trumpets Fade

Surprised to find criticism here. This is a film for grown ups. Its about infantrymen, you know, the bulk of the troops in contact with the enemy. Watching other films you might be tempted to think that only Paratroopers and Rangers did any fighting, being made up of highly motivated men with a higher purpose on heroic missions. I note criticism that the cynical nonconformist type should not appear until Vietnam films. I would suggest that a very high proportion of those in combat in WWII also didn't want to be there - my father landed on Sword beach on D-Day and certainly would rather have been somewhere else. We can still respect their sacrifice even though they only wanted to survive, because we are grown up. We don't need a film packed full of sentimentality, directors manipulation and musical cues telling us what emotions to feel... and as to complaining about the plot, how do you defend the absolutely contrived plot of that other film I haven't named (but you can guess which one I mean). See this film. Rant over.

Two years ago a WWII veteran asked me if I saw WHEN TRUMPETS FADE, the story of the battle for Heurtgen Forest. He said that he was wounded in the battle, which history has almost forgotten because it was so overshadowed by the Battle of the Bulge starting several days later.

He informed me that it was chilling in it's dead-on accuracy, not only of the events within the battle itself but of the ferocity of carnage that permeated the senses 24/7 of everyone who was there.

After watching it, I realized this was not a "Let's travel to Middle Earth, and slay the dragon fantasy" but a testimony to the barvery, or lack of it, in battle, that men must endure to justify their existance, which is continually threatened by the enemy. There isn't room for sub-plots when all that is on your mind is staying alive; and at what cost?

All the performances are exemplary in this regard, Eldard creating a character that is not only believable but admirable in it's honesty.

It should be ranked among the new age of war classics of recent years. But please don't look for any love stories or soul searching introspectives, there wasn't any time for that when you are cursing the very ground to get lower than the bullets flying over your head.

In 1944, in Hurtgen Forest in the border of Belgium, Pvt. David Manning (Ron Eldard) is the only man of his company to survive a battle in the woods. He joins a new company trying to get a medical waive, and although having difficulties to respect his superiors, he is promoted to sergeant due to his leadership and instinct of survival. After a new battle, when he destroys the German cannons, he is promoted to lieutenant.

"When Trumpets Fade" is a great surprise: totally unknown in Brazil, without any publicity, it is indeed an excellent war movie. Based on a true story, the Hurtgen Forest Battle, where 24,000 soldiers died, this film shows, without any clemency or romance, how stupid a war is. The soldiers are moved by the instinct of survival, and not by patriotism like other movies usually present. The battle scenes are amazingly real, showing shattered bodies or man losing parts of their bodies. A must-see movie, recommended for audiences who look for raw and naked true story, with magnificent interpretations and direction. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Quando os Bravos se Calam" ("When the Braves Silence")

When Trumpets Fade is a very decent war movie, but the fight scenes seem a tad bit fake. They are fighting a battle in Hurtgen Forest at the border of Belgium that seems to be impossible to win, and the platoon attempts many pushes against the German line with no avail. The main obstacle for the US troops is the tanks and flak 88 guns that their artillery cant take out. The newly appointed Sergeant Manning is given a squad of 4 men and ordered to go and take out the flak guns across from the bridge. The movie shows the difficulties and mental stress that comes with leading in war, and how sometimes you have to go to drastic measures to maintain control of the situation. This film is a great tribute to the remembrance of a very important battle that most people don't know about. I recommend it to everyone and you should all learn to love SANDERSON!!!

The film makers obviously intended a memorial to the soldiers who fought and died in the Hurtgen Forest. Though this was not a docudrama, the story had to be true to the context, and for what I could tell, it definitely achieved that goal. The Battle was not a victory for the U.S. forces. The Germans pushed back the Allies during this battle, creating the "bulge" in the front lines. The Battle of the Bulge was a later victory, and it is duly remembered. But the Hurtgen Forest campaign, which was a defeat and by many commentators is viewed as a huge strategic blunder paid for in American blood, has largely been forgotten.

Why does everyone (including viewers) assume that Manning is a coward? Because he is the only survivor of his platoon? Perhaps that assumption accurately reflects the command mindset which caused so many deaths: death is so cheap that one more death is expected, in order to prove valor. (That is not a new concept, "The Red Badge of Courage" had it in a Civil War context; but it also seems to be a motivation for contemporary suicide bombers.) Contrast that with these soldiers' motives for the last mission--when the objective was clear: to save their own lives, rather than to make a noble but unavailing gesture.

Usually war films have more plot. But the Hurtgen Forest campaign was not as carefully plotted as a screenplay. Did any mission in this film seem to have any real point? The battle is accurately reflected here. This is not a compelling film, and it does not attempt to impart any great moral lessons, but it's best virtue is that it is honest.

My late father was in the "Bloody Bucket" (the 28th Infantry, Pennsylvania National Guard--note the red keystone insignia) during this battle, and he was fortunate to have survived. Decades later, he often would say to me that the trees could kill you. I was never really sure what he meant. This film showed me what he meant: the tree tops which were blown off by artillery fire would fall on the soldiers below.