With a setting of a non-distinct time, country and people, this represents, and explores, war. A plane with four military men crashes several miles behind enemy lines. The situation is tense, tempers run high... and then a young woman spots them(oh, and this fails the Bechdel test rather spectacularly; more than anything, she's a catalyst), and they stop her from running. They may have to keep her as a hostage - after all, they can't let her warn the enemy general in the house not far from their position...
The characters are the hardened Sgt. Mac(Silvera, determined to do something that will matter), the nervous Private Sidney(Mazursky, anxious), the pilot Pvt. Flethcer(Coit, suave, the airman, with the underlying idea that he isn't as brave as the others, the army men) and Lt. Corby(Harp, one caught in the middle). They respond differently to the danger - sarcasm, assigning blame, philosophizing, etc. Rank, identity, strategy and planning come up. Can one remain "civilized" during this extreme state? This also goes into perspective, the needs of the few vs. those of the many. The acting is good. There is some meaningful voice-over by an all-knowing narrator.
This is nowhere near the level of the later work of Kubrick(R.I.P.), but it is very clearly one of his films. It does put his, at the time, lack of experience, on full display: the editing is slightly awkward(albeit not uninspired - one part has blood and violence shown via food being spilt and crumpled), the quick cuts to and from faces are too brief to have an effect, and there is not much camera movement, sometimes too little. This is also not as detached, with wide shots, as his later works. The running time is 58 minutes sans end credits, and the pacing is uneven, you lose interest every so often, and the conclusion peters out more than it leaves us on a compelling note. As far as availability, I watched this via my local library.
Parts of this are genuinely disturbing and unpleasant, raw and brutal. I recommend this to the biggest fans of the director, as a curiosity. 6/10
The characters are the hardened Sgt. Mac(Silvera, determined to do something that will matter), the nervous Private Sidney(Mazursky, anxious), the pilot Pvt. Flethcer(Coit, suave, the airman, with the underlying idea that he isn't as brave as the others, the army men) and Lt. Corby(Harp, one caught in the middle). They respond differently to the danger - sarcasm, assigning blame, philosophizing, etc. Rank, identity, strategy and planning come up. Can one remain "civilized" during this extreme state? This also goes into perspective, the needs of the few vs. those of the many. The acting is good. There is some meaningful voice-over by an all-knowing narrator.
This is nowhere near the level of the later work of Kubrick(R.I.P.), but it is very clearly one of his films. It does put his, at the time, lack of experience, on full display: the editing is slightly awkward(albeit not uninspired - one part has blood and violence shown via food being spilt and crumpled), the quick cuts to and from faces are too brief to have an effect, and there is not much camera movement, sometimes too little. This is also not as detached, with wide shots, as his later works. The running time is 58 minutes sans end credits, and the pacing is uneven, you lose interest every so often, and the conclusion peters out more than it leaves us on a compelling note. As far as availability, I watched this via my local library.
Parts of this are genuinely disturbing and unpleasant, raw and brutal. I recommend this to the biggest fans of the director, as a curiosity. 6/10