Reveille

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.

I have never seen a film like this, high school students could play better, the total cast is 20 person and all of them disasters. Screenshot is also bad. I don't how people can give this movie 10?! And furthermore I am a native German speaker but couldn't understand most of the talking of the soldiers, also the English is also not good. Even the uniforms of the soldiers are a bit different. The whole movie is in a cave where wounded soldiers are talking, and when they are not talking you watch them for ten fifteen seconds and nothing else happens, they look to each other's. Totally waste of time!!!

Brilliant depiction of a soldier's experiences, one civilians can only imagine. Reveille is a throwback to the days when acting was subtle and provocative, when a mere gesture said it all, when understatement mattered. Ackerman takes us to the heart of the battlefield, to humanity in raw form in this artfully done, atmospheric depiction of war. Unconventionally, for a war flick, it slows down, pauses in all the right places underscoring the conflict of conscious, the self-preserving mechanism of laughter, the sanctity of loyalty and sacrifice, all present minus the distraction of frenetic energy and quick moving scenes. Instead, from the beginning, we agree to patience, to listen, reflect, ponder expressions, words, gestures, and all the while we're tricked by the dark humor and bonding of the Americans, but then jarred back to reality with a frequent panning of the camera to the Germans and their suffering, and so it goes back and forth, juxtaposing the two, laughter and pain, until the two are indistinguishable; and, hence, the psychological aspect, which makes it engrossing, disturbingly real, to the point where it's no longer about the enemy, or one side or the other, and war is deflated in a sense, absurdly irrelevant when weighed against a moral conscience. Masterpiece. Thank you for it!

This film keeps the viewer thoroughly immersed, from the opening title it immediately sucks you into a different world like a time machine with it's incredible artfully done cinematography and attention to detail of WWII in 1943. The outstanding performances by such a talented cast bring the viewer through a range of intense feelings and challenges their understanding of not just war but morality and humanity on a profound level. The characters feel as real as the danger that they're in and it's pulse pounding. This movie promotes a claustrophobic feeling as we follow the main characters through a time essential situation with chaos around the corner, this develops into a psychological battle between each other and their enemies. A brilliant and accurate depiction of war.

I'm not sure what the history was exactly, but we needed more of Sgt Perez!! He was easily the highlight of the whole movie for me, well acted, and most believable. Big things coming for Nick Decorse! 🙏🏽🙏🏽

Overall, the film had its share of decent to bad acting which may take you out of it a little bit, but it is to be expected from this smaller scale of a budget. It is still very enjoyable nonetheless, and an interesting look into the history of the time as well as the different, conflicting moralities of men.

Again, Nick Decorse's portrayal of Sgt Perez remains the highlight I think is one character to definitely keep an eye on.