The Final Sacrifice

Introduction

There have been a few films released recently with a change of name that has caused a little confusion and this film is yet another so before we start I want to make it clear that this is director Ari Taub's 2004 film The Fallen. I think this may well have been edited quite heavily as well as the reviews I've seen for The Fallen also talk about the US forces portrayed in this films and here they simply bookend the film, it really being a focus on the Italians and Germans.

It's 1944 and the Germans and their Italian allies are entrenched on the gothic line in Northern Italy awaiting the arrival of the invading Allied troops. Lt Bruchner (Thomas Pohn) leads a battered and beleaguered German unit who try to make themselves as comfortable as they can during what they recognise as the dying embers of the Third Reich, defeat almost certainly on its way after the thrill of sweeping through Europe only a few years before. With their unifoms in tatters and a rag tag collection of different branches of the German army, including a rather quiet SS tank man, Bruchner's unit must contend with almost daily bombings by the Allies and sporadic ambushes from the Italian partisans, their numbers dwindling all the while. Starving and physically in dire need of a wash, their situation seems hopeless as they just wait for the end...

The arrival of Lt Gianini (Fabio Sartor) and his platoon of Italian Alpine infantry is both a boon and problem. Loyal to Mussolini (to a degree), the local soldiers still have crisp uniforms compared to their German compatriots, whose own are falling to pieces as the supply lines do the same. There are tensions between both camps as well as the Germans look down upon their allies and the Italians refuse to fight the partisans, their own countrymen. It says much of the reversal of fortunes that the Germans as occupiers of Italy, feel unable to force their hand and help out but the lack of discipline this late in the war leads to a few minor fracas between the two camps.

Bruchner and Gianini understand each other, both being steeped in the officer class and do their best to keep everything under control, despite cricumstances conspiring against them - whether its the steady drip of German casualties from the daily bombing or partisan ambushes and the loss of some of the Italians who desert with the partisans due to their close proximity to their home villages.

Added to the mix is local wannabe gangster Rossini (Carmine Raspaolo) who does his best to make a profit out of the war. Initially he is making deals with American GI's for wine 'liberated' from France and then looting the site of a partisan ambush on a German supply truck. Rossini is a rather minor character but serves to place Gianini in a postition where he has to make a decision that will satisfy the honour of Bruchner.

As the soldiers numbers dwindle and morale falls as their circumstances become ever clearer, the only thing keeping these soldiers minds alive are the letters they send home to their loved ones...

Picture

It has to be said, the picture on this is not great at all. I have no idea where they got the transfer from but the picture is massively grainy and has a soft focus in places. I don't know why it's this bad, the original release was only in 2004 after all. I managed to watch this to the end, but others may not have the patience.

Extras

A substantial Making Of which talks, amongst other things of the involvement of war re-enactors who ensured that all the equipment was authentic to the period and not 'farby' - a derogatory word apparently for the incorrect use of equipment in films.

Overall

The Final Sacrifice, or The Fallen - whichever you prefer, is a different kind of war film. There's no mission as such to drive the plot along and whilst there is action within it, it isn't the driving force of the film. The basic premise is to examine the fultility of sacrifice at the end of the war when your 'side' is on that downward spiral into defeat. Thus we see the proud Aryan soldiers in disarray, their once starched uniforms now falling apart and reduced to eating whatever they can get their hands on whilst also at the mercy of the odd overflying aircraft that may just drop a bomb on them and reduce their numbers by a couple. These are battle hardened soldiers but also realists, none more so than Thomas Pohn's German commander who is just looking to do his best for his men under extremely trying circumstances. He is cut off from his main supply route and his only method of communication is by field telephone and the partisans have a tendency to cut the wires whilst he is chasing long over due supplies. Does he sacrifice yet more men in an attempt to re-establish communications or just sit it out and hope the High Command don't forget them? There is no die hard blind loyalty to the Fuhrer here, even from the token SS tank man who commands the amoured car.

The Italians are a mixed bunch. Fabio Sartor's Italian commander is a proud man who worries whether he measures up to the standards of the Aryan race, something that is a little daft when you consider the state that the overstretched Germans have gotten themselves into. The soldiers under his tutelage are in the main young, ill disciplined and more than ready to pick a fight with the Germans, especially when it comes to food. Understandably they are also extremely reluctant to engage the local partisans in combat. They recognise that the war is coming to an end for them, their country initially occupied by the Germans has now been invaded by the Americans and British so their war is almost over. The last thing they need is to antagonise people they will soon have to reintegrate with. On the other hand, they can't just leave their axis allies out on a limb so compromises are made to allow the Italians to patrol around the entrenchment but not engage the partisans, which leads to a rather harrowing but interesting confrontation.

Overall this is a slow burner of a film. The acting is good for the type of film this is, but I especially liked Phon and Sartor, with Raspaolo's minor role also quite impressive. This is not a war film for everyone as it isn't about glamourising war in any way whatsoever, it's more about the decline at the end of a war and the effects of imminent defeat. It's obvious to all that the end is coming for the Axis allies and all are just doing their best to do not only their duty but also act with honour, as Pohn's last act as Commander shows. Not everyone will appreciate this film for what it is, but I was suitably impressed with it, bar the picture quality obviously.

Not bad overall, but a renter rather than a purchase  my opinion may have changed slightly if the picture quality had been any good.