Review of Fear and Desire (1953) by Matthew D — 09 May 2015

More a psychological thriller than a war movie: taut from beginning to end and studying the threats from within more than the dangers from without. Many films in the genre are about how impersonal and dehumanising the experience is for those caught up in it and Fear and Desire touches on those themes too, but also it shows how things become so deeply personal and make them act so very human.

If it is a little rough and ready around the edges it only adds to its authenticity and makes it less clinical than Kubrick's later work.