Background:
The story of this film is inspired by chapter 4 of Audie Murphy's book "To Hell and Back". One could argue that it is a mostly accurate portrayal of events. Some of the characters are fictionalized for the sake of the story but it's quite clear that Jared Becker's "Sarge" is intended to portray Audie himself in this situation.
Audio and Cinematography:
For a low budget film, Mike has done quite a good job. There are some issues one could argue is linked to budget and while it does detract at times, it's not a deal breaker by any means. For example there are some fairly overexposed shots here and there and there are some jarring moments of audio where editing could have been a tad better but, like I said, this is more of a budget issue and not something I'd hold against the film as a whole. Overall while some of the audio is where the film is weakest, it is audio that also makes the film strong during its strongest moments. The cracking of incoming gunfire is absolute spectacularly well done. While the moments of combat are brief, they are more than memorable in both their sound design and staging. All scenes in the cave, however, suffered very few issues with audio and visuals and honestly most everything sounded well and the cinematography and lighting was quite well done. I do want to rewatch this in my theater room from a bluray or raw media instead of Amazon as I'm sure some of the issues I encountered was due to the streaming platform.
Technical Accuracy:
Akkerman was really striving for historical accuracy here and I think he did a very commendable job. Any issues were, at worst, incredibly minor and pedantic. I could go into what I noticed if someone wants but it really comes down to severe rivet counting if I'm being honest. It's significantly better than 99.9% of productions to include nearly every big budget film released in the last 20 years. The attention to detail is very good overall. Everything to very specific personal items, the way gear is being worn, the way its used, and the proper use of insignia given the period. Additionally, the feature of Afrika Korps uniforms on the NCOs as a carryover from their previous campaign is a nice touch.
Writing and Acting:
The writing and performances themselves has a lot to commend. The portrayal of panic was mostly done well but honestly the portrayal of wounds (MAJOR kudos to the makeup department of this one) and wounded soldiers in the way they act is almost scary how well done it is. Typically low budget and indie productions have terrible dialog but this isn't an example of that. While there were moments of unnecessary exposition and some minor cliches, the dialog was excellent overall and felt very throughout the film. This dialog was further enhanced by some rather stellar performances. Four in particular stand out in my mind (in no particular order): Joe Bongiovanni's Leo, Jake Powers' Rowe, Kevin Sinic's Artur, and Bernd Wittneben's Brander.
Final thoughts:
Overall Akkerman has created a beautiful film. It really hits some emotions that don't often arise in war films and we see the characters transform for better or for worse. The acting is quite believable and the writing quite organic. As a final rating I'd give it a 7/10. If it wasn't for some of the audio issues, it'd be a firm 8/10 in my book. It's not a bad film by any means, that was just something that broke my immersion a couple times. Additionally, it was slightly too long I'd argue. At 1 hour and 45 minutes, it told its story well but I feel like at 1 hour and 30 minutes, it could have achieved perfect flow. A minor complaint given the fact that this really is a fantastic film and one I would purchase on bluray without question and watch yearly.
