Review of Saints and Soldiers (2003) by Ben L — 14 Jul 2017

Saint and Soldiers is a WWII story of a handful of men who find themselves on the run as they narrowly escape being killed in the Malmedy Massacre. The opening scene setup the result of that massacre and it had me nervous because I thought we were literally flashing back just to watch these guys getting killed right there. But the first scene was not a spoiler, these guys get away. (Well, temporarily.).

I really enjoyed the different personalities of these men, and I thought it created some interesting confrontations and connections between them. I was emotionally invested in these guys early, even before I knew all their names. Each one of them seemed to get their moment to shine and the actors all did a good job of creating authentic characters even if they weren't the best actors in the world.

I understand that Saints and Soldiers is a production from the Mormon church, and you can find some religious themes in the movie, although they aren't exclusively Mormon. I have to hand it to them, if this is any indication of their movie quality, they are leaps and bounds ahead of those movies made by Evangelical churches. This one was actually understated with the religious themes and prioritized telling a good story.

Saints and Soldiers isn't the most original war film. It probably indulges too much in cliches and won't impress some more savvy movie buffs. But the story-telling and character-building worked for me. The movie took some surprising turns I wasn't expecting and had legitimate stakes that hit me emotionally. I enjoyed the movie a lot and would gladly watch it again any time.