08/15 (1954)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Admirable film.

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

"08/15" is a German movie from 1954, so this one was made the same year Germany became world champion in football for the first time, which means it is already over 60 years old. The director is Paul May and he is also one of the writers who adapted the literary work by Hans Hellmut Kirst for the screen here. Actually Kirst was also one of these. And Kirst and May worked together on two more films from the trilogy of which "08/15" is the first segment really. It is of course a black-and-white film and it features some fairly known names such as Mario Adorf in his very first career performance (of over 200 by now). The main character is played by the legendary Joachim Blacky Fuchsberger and even if most people today know him for his prolific participation in the Edgar Wallace series, then his efforts here should not be neglected. The 1950s were, for Germany and German film as well, the decade of coming to terms with what happened since 1933, or maybe since 1939, and this film can easily be counted as another war-themed work from that era. However, I felt that there was not that much war action in here, but instead the focus was on life in the military, especially with the focus on one particular soldier, but several supporting characters made an impact and there were all kinds of non-military subjects in here too, like romance and also comedy occasionally. Heinz Rühmann could have played this lead character convincingly too I guess. But I would not put the blame on Fuchsberger that the film did not turn out so well. First of all, my personal approach that I never liked war-themed films that much may be partially in the way of me enjoying the movie, but I also found most of the characters completely interchangeable and at some point it just dragged so much and I really lost interest in most of the characters. I also felt that it was not a very realistic watch when it comes to the deeper, more important moments. All in all, I believe the rating here on IMDb is pretty high and it should be lower as this is not a defining film when it comes to the genre at all. I give it a thumbs-down and for as much as I care it could have ended after this first film and the two sequels really should not have been made unless they are considerably better than this one here, which I doubt a lot. Watch something else instead.

This movie isn't actually a war movie but covers the life of German conscripts on the eve of the second world war. They are in the hands of ruthless and sadistic NCOs who are constantly trying to impose harsh measures against the men. The officers on the contrary are shown much more civilized and see themselves somehow as a father-figure. The tension between the privates and their superiors forms hard bonds of friendship between them, although they come from very different social backgrounds. Private Vierbein and Gefreiter Asch are the two protagonists of this film. Vierbein is a sensible piano-player that detests the rudeness and the lack of privacy in the barracks. However he is deeply in love with Asch's sister, who is a full-propagandized Nazi-BDM-girl and demands of him to become an officer. In this tension, he attempts suicide on the shooting range but is hindered by Asch. With Vierbeins stolen ammunition and deep knowledge of the internal processes, the practical and clever Asch is able to land a brilliant coup and to get his nasty superiors all removed from the unit. The film ends with the beginning of the second world war. Many stereotypes about the different ranks were included in the film and in some cases they were played out excessively. Still many German soldiers may find similarities from some of their own experience.

Everyone that expects a war movie like "The Bridge" or "The longest day" will probably be quite disappointed after seeing this movie. However, I never found a movie which captures the atmosphere of a soldiers life and problems better than 08/15. This is not a film that focuses on historical battles or dramatic highlights in WW2, but rather on a common soldiers life and his chaotic way through the war. Even during the second episode, which plays at the ostfront its never the war which the main focus is on but the ordinary soldiers and their interactions.

The discussion on the topic of the wehrmacht´s crimes is on again in germany since a new exhibition was on the road last year... Now here´s a picture from the mid-fifties that takes a look at a simple soldier in the third reich´s regular army: A whole different perspective. Sure, there are no war crimes in it though the wehrmacht committed war crimes - especially in eastern europe - no doubt about it. Still, the partly authentic atmosphere - as I suppose - is the result of the little time that went by from the war to the making of this movie - only 9 years after ww2. Very entertaining, but the books are even better.