Die Brücke

I did not realise that this was a TV remake of Berhard Wicki's 1959 classic 'Die Brucke' especially as the cover was more misleading than a James Bond movie and the credits stated that the screenplay was based upon a book by Gregor Dorfmeister (Wicki's masterpiece credited a novel by Manfred Gregor). In fact it was a remake of 'Die Bruck' albeit with the additional sub-plots of a sexual nature. I also was impressed with the attention to detail on the equipment employed and care taken with the Production set and design. Whilst it was not quite the work of art displayed by the 1959 version it was acceptable and fairly realistic. Indeed I thought that it was very well made and was to Feature Film standard. I am still working on identifying some of the kit used but it was all believable for the period. Despite the reliance upon Franke Potente as the main international 'Name' in the cast, the casting was very good and all of the characters were believable and did a grand job in telling this sad tale. I do not believe that most fans of this genre will be too disappointed with this well made little tale of the futility of war.

You don't have to know the original to dislike this version of "Die Brücke." It is what its producers wanted it to be: filled with more action and romance than the original, more "modern" (whatever that means), in color and whathaveyounot. What lacks is any sense of reality, any understanding of the time or the people. The romance is unmotivated, that action has no impact at all, and music and slo-mo-shots are overused and abused to imply epic qualities or sadness (passing trucks with wounded German soldiers, dying American tank driver). All in all this looks like a bigger budgeted WWII-film in the vein of the many amateur videos you can see on Youtube, where teenagers dress up in uniforms, wield plastic gun replicas and insert lots of muzzle flash effects over the action scenes.

I noticed that all the former comments about this film were a) made by Germans, and b) they all slander it, and for me that has some weight. I don't know any German, so I can't say if the acting was good or bad, but it looked and felt at least pretty good, most of the time.

As a history buff and germanophile (who can't speak the language - perish the thought!) I found this film to be quite good in a historical context - and, I was impressed by that the equipment used by both Germans and Americans looked very authentic (with one MAJOR exception for the Americans) apart perhaps that the boys were/looked too old: they were supposed to be 16, and not a single one looked that age. Of course, that's the same thing with 25-year-olds playing high school teens in American films...

From a military point of view, this is also a pretty accurate film: The Germans did use single squads of troopers to defend small tactical objectives, as the bridge in the film. It also shows the devastating power of the Panzerfaust 100, the hand-held tank killer. Very nice, unless you are on the receiving end of it.

The sfx was OK, but absolutely nothing fancy.

However, the film has flaws that were carried over the language barrier, namely a totally unnecessary love plot and a more interesting love plot that would have done well to be better developed. Also, I didn't like that characters just vanished from the story without me getting to know of their departure.

I have to agree with some other comments about the lack of character development - it could definitely be better, that's for certain. Oddly, the best character development was done about some of the elder extras, not the main characters.

The film is also too melodramatic for my liking, so much I began thinking of the Russian film Zvesda which was just as bad in that area. Having the film maker telling me to feel sorry for the protagonists is not the way of scoring a 10 on IMDb.

It's near the end of WWII. In a small border village, seven 16-year-old schoolboys are conscripted as the front moves ever closer. They're made to defend the small local bridge. There are also subplots that add nothing but screen time. This uses very little of the material available, and its 100 minute running time, or 96 and a half without end credits, drags at many points. Characterization is less of a priority than illicit material. Maybe they figured they'd need something to wake the audience up. So every so often, there's nudity, sexuality, or war violence. Even though none of it leads to anything.

Franka Potente is an international film star. So once they had her, they expanded her role from the previous versions of this story, combined several characters, and increased her presence. It amounts to nothing. See, before, it was different people, related to the teens, all individually trying to get them out of the war. They don't succeed, because that's what's accurate. When you have just one person doing that, and failing repeatedly, it gets to be annoying to watch. She doesn't even get closure. One scene has the crush of one of the boys take a similar role, and I swear, it's purely so that there's at least *one* other doing some of that. Where are the parents? They're such a strong element in the 1959 movie. Everyone in the military in this are incompetent, and basically every adult German is a monster. This from the same country who, rightly, made us understand Adolf Hitler, himself?

I recommend this purely to those who are too curious to stay away. 3/10

... consider it an accident and look for the - really impressive - original! You will spare yourself quite a lousy piece of love story and war action rudely looted from the heritage of the 50's version by Bernhard Wicki. Even Hollywood barely could do worse twisting historical facts and life stories into some sort of spectacular fireworks performed by characters who don't really deserve this description. Good war movies (such as the original one!) should include the stories of the human beings involved, narrated in an empathic way thus helping the viewer to understand or at least imagine how it might have come to all the cruelty - and maybe even how it could be overcome. Otherwise there will be sown rather fascination than consternation. The next war will come too soon anyway. 2/10 just because of occasionally good acting (esp. by the soldier boys) and seemingly accurate requisites (uniforms, armory...).