User Reviews

A documentary re-enactment of an event in February 1945, when men from a Mountain Rescue Team- the Blue Cross of the title was their badge- in the Tatra Mountains in Poland, summoned by a Slovak doctor, crossed the mountains to rescue three badly wounded men, their nurse and a guard from an isolated hut near a German outpost. The characters were played by some of the original participants and amateur actors. It's a well-put together short film; the events almost entirely described by an omniscient commentator with a mixture of location and well-made re-enactment. It's only the absence of vapour from the men's mouths that shows which is the latter. There are some extraordinary shots though, with Munk's characteristic concentration on faces- an amputation without anaesthetics depicted by close ups of the patient's, the surgeon's and the watchers' faces and a tuneless humming. There are some wonderful action shots as well- an avalanche, the journey across snow fields, a pursuing German ski patrol sweeping across white snow- but more than anything it is the way Munk looks at the middle-aged and elderly faces of the rescue team- gap-toothed, wrinkled, moustachioed, resolutely civilian in a war- and the reminder that this was entered- like every other rescue- in the book at their base. It's noteworthy that Munck only depicts heroism unequivocally when as here it involves saving life not taking it.

This is a rare film by this very influential Polish filmmaker. It is breathtaking in its cinematography and it employs a documentary style of storytelling. The actors are real and even includes some people who were there at the actual event that took place near the end of World War II.

A group of volunteers in The Blue Cross undertake to go over several mountain ranges to rescue injured and isolated Russian and Polish Partisans from a cabin in the woods near a German outpost. It is very interesting story and holds your attention. If this happens to show at a film festival near you, make a mental note to see it. I was fortunate to see it at the National Gallery of Art in Washington during a festival of Munk's films.