Tjaarda

Really great Anti-War Picture. It was a little hard for me to get into this film at the beginning, because for some reason I could not differentiate between the men and what was happening, but when I finally got into it, it was really good. The trial sequence was really well written and showed how the two sides argue, how war and power corrupts a persons ability to see things in a moral way, how they only have one goal in their mind and do not care for their men's life. Especially the scene where Colonel Dax and (I think) General George Broulard speak at the party underlined this image perfectly, as he talks of the men as children and animals. Additionally, he did not understand that Dax really wanted to save the three men and not gain an advantage for himself. The execution was horrible to watch as well. The priest here was a very cynical figure, as he says "Death is coming for us all." but these men absolutely would not have to die there. This verdict could be interpreted as the French Army assuming the role of God. Only the end scene gave me a slight ick, because I am not sure how I should interpret it. I read reviews on here that people cried there, because they felt with the men who felt a slight comfort in the song of a woman they could not understand. But I felt with the woman who is certainly not their enemy as a civilian, who is scared and crying only to be screamed at and be objectified by the soldiers. Ew. Maybe both can coexist, but I am not sure if my view was kept in mind when filming this.

I do like trashy movies, especially of the horror kind, but this was just plain bad. The CGI was horrible, the kills were horrible, the characters were horribly written. The only good thing about this film was Kathryn Newton, who must have tried her best to get anything out of this script.

As many people have written here already, it is really hard to categorize this film. It has thriller-vibes, but definitely something fairytailish going on with horror elements mixed in. Especially the scene where Miss Cooper waits for the Preacher and Ruby comes to talk to her, covering up the man on the tree stump with a candle, and he then being gone when she moves, is a tactic that is still used in horror film today. The song the preacher sings is quite eerie as well (and how Miss Cooper and he sing "together" is a brilliant scene). I also really enjoyed the way this film interacted with themes like good vs evil, religion and abuse. Especially, how abusers charm the outside to cover up their actions towards the people they abuse. How they become lonely as nobody believes them.

I do not know what it is about this film, but the general vibe I felt when watching this was great. It has a certain charm. Joe Buck is a greatly written protagonist, even though he starts out looking like a *"one hell of a stud"*, holding on to certain visions of masculinity, he ends up being much more than that, a loving partner and caretaker for Ratso. Their relationship, with the bickering and trashtalking is so well written, it was a joy to watch. How anyone can read this film as a buddy story I can not understand. This film is so clearly telling a queer story, I can not put it better than [ 🦆 (Douglas Reese) ](https://letterboxd.com/reesepd/film/midnight-cowboy/) described it in their review. They may never kiss, but there is always a vibe between them and Joes flashbacks and his sexual encounters make it clear that he has a problem with his sexuality. Additionally there is Ratsos dream of them in Miami. Now you really want to tell me that they are not in love?