Laurence Audenaerd

A bunch of young guys excited to go to war learn that it’s not what’s it’s cracked up to be. The story is about as stagnant as the trench warfare itself and somewhat predictable. Maybe that was the point, but it’s hard to get invested in the trials and tribulations of characters who aren’t well developed. When bad things happened to them, I had a hard time sympathizing. At one point the group of friends is frantically looking for “Ned” after a drum fire attack - but which one was he? In terms of realism, other than how clean the characters look and that these soldiers looked as fresh face at the end of the film as the beginning, the film seems to have a quite a lot of realistic details even if they are a bit forced at times, such as the one guy with a pet rat. The combat scenes were chaotic and seemed true to what’s portrayed in museums I’ve visited in France and Belgium.