Le renard et le soldat

Based on a true story ,the movie is decidedly off the beaten track and depicts the friendship of a soldier and a fox ;taking place when the German army was triumphant , for defeating the French and the English was just a pushover after Poland ; the vengeful spirit plays a prominent part and the fathers will be proud of their sons' prowess which redeems their 1918 humiliation;it was the same despicable spirit in France after 1870. However when the movie ends ,when the Germans want to celebrate Xmas in Moscow , they should have remembered Napoleon's Berezina .

In a world gone mad , the young soldier does not seem to care about the big victories ;the more I know men,the more I love dogs (or foxes) seems to be his motto though he remains a good soldier, not a rebellious mind ;one must note that the superiors were lenient when he did not join his mates (he's not really looked upon as a deserter). The scenes with the French woman provides the movie with its low point :there does not seem to have the slightest problem of communication between them ,which is a little unlikely all the same .

One scene at the beginning -when the little boy is taken away from his family ,"for his own good" -echoes to one of the final scenes ,that of the fox running behind the vehicle ;both scenes are harrowing.and will drive you to tears.

Animals remain friends to men when they fight each others : "der Fuchs " belongs to a genre which includes Spielberg's "war horse"(2011) and the French movie starring Fernandel "la vache et le prisonnier" (1959)(the cow and I ", itself based on a true story)