Reviews

While I honestly enjoyed this movie because of it's historical background as well as getting to see Germans play war I have to admit that as a German-American who grew up mostly in Germany Im sick of the anti-war shtick spit out by German cinema. Why not make it a glamorous affair? The reality was that many German soldiers fought on not just in places like Stalingrad but Kursk, Normandy, and Caen despite the knowledge that they were doomed. Hell award a Waffen-SS officer the Knights Cross on-screen for saving his unit in action then sit back and wait for the media to gasp. Yes, Stalingrad was a meat grinder but so what? So was the bombing of Berlin.. by day the Americans by night the British. No one is choosing sides here, WW2 is over.

This movie is another back-biting, defeatist attitude, apathetic portrayal of Germans during WW2. The Leutnant in this film is a spectre of the Kapitan of U-96 in "Das Boot". He too was clean cut and spit shined in the begining and in the end is a dirty shamble. The main characters in this film could have all served on board "Das Boot" for that matter with the exception of the Polizie officer, not SS to another poster. Also this film was not shot by Wolfgang Peterson it was produced by the same producer of "Das Boot" and they tagged it that way to make money off the popularity of "Das Boot".

I also agree that the film was incorrectly lighted and a much more dramatic effect could have been achieved had they lowered the lighting. If I ever get the chance to make a war film I will not make the mistakes this film made and I will definitely not be cliche in my portrayal of the German soldier.

When I read the synopsis for the plot of 'Pearl' I thought of 'Hanover Street' right away. I saw this movie when I was 10 years old and was impressed by it's pacing, the plot twist, and the fact that in the end it is just as it is billed, a romantic war movie. For a guy like me who cant stand romantic war movies I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed this obscure film not once but the many times I have watched it. If during the course of a film you feel that same longing a character experiences then it has made it's mark. When David Halloran, Harrison's character, transitions from cocky bomber pilot to reluctant pilot who begins to hear the concerns of his bombardier as well as his heart, from the unhealthy romance of two people in need of something concrete in a time of uncertainty, from the struggle to get back to the one you love this movie runs the gammit of what war is like for lovers, soldiers, and ordinary civilians caught up in it. Think of loving someone so much they make you ache then throw in the fact that they are someone elses lover and the knowledge that you will have to turn and walk away from them forever.