Bataillon der Verlorenen

The soldier who refuses to run towards the slaughterhouse, and the soldier who escapes from the meat grinder to the Austrian enemy with cries of "Comrade" are textbook cowards and deserters. Supposedly, it is legitimate to execute them with all military pomp, with a neatly arranged firing squad facing the ones being executed. On the other hand, a soldier calls for the cessation of killing among those who are only victims of war, farmers and workers in uniforms, and citizens (who are equal, so why are the officers the masters of the life and death of the lower ranks?). And thus, he is shot - from behind. There is no difference between the two cases, both are unjust, and both are repulsive. The repulsiveness of all old-fashioned, pompous, arrogant haughtiness and swollen ego personified by the old general is almost textbook. The film is artistically and professionally excellently mastered, but it does not surpass the category of perfectly mastered average. (25.05.2014)