(Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Classics)
War is War
War is war regardless of who the good guys are and who the bad guys are.
A dead soldier is a loss to that person’s family regardless of what side of history their country was on.
While Adolf Hitler does not deserve historical empathy, many German soldiers were merely little boys during World War II, forced to fight for the Nazi regime.
The problem is many of those same children had to pay dearly for Hitler’s hateful mistakes after the war was said and done.
In “Land of Mine,” a group of German prisoners of war are forced to clear and diffuse millions of land mines spread throughout the beaches of Denmark.
While World War II is over for most of the world, German soldiers like Sebastian (Louis Hoffman), Ludwig (Oskar Bokelmann) and twins Werner (Oskar Belton) and Ernst (Emil Belton) are still fighting to return home safely to their families.
One false move can result in catastrophe, lost limbs and lost lives.
The German POWs are starved, trapped in wood shacks and beaten when they do not conform to the standards of Danish Sgt. Carl Rasmussen (Roland Moller).
Meanwhile, the prisoners have to avoid fighting amongst each other in order to win their last fight of the war.
“Land of Mine” is pretty good and a very interesting story about war that needed telling on the big screen.
The film will produce mixed emotions for many audience members.
On one hand, the Germans were the evil oppressors and enemies that caused World War II.
But on the other hand, children are children and no one wants to see children suffer for the sins of their elders or their country.
The POWs all have dreams when they get home, from the big to the small.
Some just want their mothers home cooked meals.
A few cannot wait to get home so they can get a girlfriend and enjoy life.
The twins want to start a bricklaying company in order to help rebuild their ravished homeland, while some of their peers hope to get a factory job when they return to Germany.
Although “Land of Mine” is good, intense and at times explosive (literally), much of it is predicatble even if a moviegoer is not knowledgeable about the storyline in “Land of Mine.”
Nevertheless, it is still sad when the inevitable begins to occur in “Land of Mine.”
Although the movie takes place in 1945, not that much has changed in 2017 and before.
War is still war.
Casualties happen.
And unfortunately, an opposing country imprisons some people.
However, one does not have to treat the prisoners like they are less than human regardless of their nationality, religion or other physical characteristic.
REGAL RATINGS
FOUR CROWNS=EXCELLENT
THREE CROWNS=GOOD
TWO CROWNS=AVERAGE
ONE CROWN=POOR
