Review of The Big Red One (1980) by Nate A — 14 May 2008
A great war film that is for me a personal favourite; like Melville's superb 'L'armee des ombres' it refuses to sentimentalise. It's wonderful at demonstrating the insanity of war, its fundamental surreality.
Fuller eschews overtly manipulating the viewer, something I find to be utterly criminal in the war genre which tends towards machoistic excess, sheer nihilism, or woeful nostalgia. The film has some typical Fuller moments (a mentally disabled person shooting a gun to copy the soldiers shouting "I'm sane! I'm sane!"), but it can also be harrowing and moving as well.
It's sprawling, slightly uneven, lacking the sheen of other war epics, but Fuller's greatness lies in his skillful use of the core elements of cinema; a primal approach along the lines of other American mavericks like Peckinpah.
It's powerful, subtle, and admirable in its representation of the hellishness of war.
This review of The Big Red One (1980) was written by Nate A on 14 May 2008.
The Big Red One has generally received positive reviews.
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