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The Last Valley (Widescreen)

One of the few stand out coldly realistic war movies, Oct. 21 2002

It was written and directed by an accomplished Historian, and as such, it is a Historically real movie in the way that very few Hollywood films ever are.

If you like war movies, but are turned off by unrealisitc, sappy maudlin watered down plots (such as to some extent even the silly plot of otherwise technically excellent Saving Private Ryan) then this is one of the few which will really satisfy you.

Reviewers may speculate, why did the director portray the Catholic and Protestant churches of the time in such an equally cynical, murderous light? What point was he trying to make about Vietnam or war in general by portraying the mercenary soldiers as such incredibly bloodthirsty raping murdering monsters? Why does he portray a landscape of devestation, depopulation and nightmare as a backdrop to this one valley? Why indeed?

Did it occur to anyone that the answer might be because this is the historical reality of what happened in the 30 years war!? Look up the 30 years war in a history book or on the internet to check for yourself. This movie portrays soldiers as soldiers really are (or often become) in almost every war since the beginning of time, particularly these fratricidal type conflicts which are always the nastiest.

It may have had a certain extra relevance during the vietnam war but this movie has the same timeless truth to it that Herodotus very first written history, which was about the Persian Wars, does as well. Many people weaned on Hollywood (such as the reviewer here who is "waiting for the director") are simply not familiar with a realisitc portrayal of war, of the brutality of soldiers, of the cynicism of leaders religious and otherwise. So they fish around for special reasons for the shocking violence, and wonder why there aren't neater, more satisfying answers to humanities self inflicted dilemmas here. Well, maybe it's be cause because there aren't any easy answers in the real world. Maybe the point of this film is to present the circumstances of that horrible place and time as accurately as one can in a conventional movie, and allow the audience to draw their own conclusions.

I believe this movie will be popular for people who like war films such as Cross of Iron, The Winter War, Hamburger Hill, When Trumpets Fade, Paths to Glory, (the original) All's Quiet on the Western front, and the various Kirosawa movies, to name a few. If you like a hard core realistic war film for whatever reason, you will enjoy this one, and you will probably be pleased by it's overall integrity and intelligence to boot.

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Waiting for a director, Janv. 29 2001

Par	Charles S. Tashiro (Agoura Hills, CA USA) - Voir tous mes commentaires

Because everyone seems to have been paying attention to something else, the film never really focuses on moving us through its own internal logic. This lack of attention to its own dynamics results in some real peculiarities. For example, in a dramatization of a war that took place largely in Germany, we have an Arab, several Englishmen, an American, a Swede and a Brazilian in the cast, but as far as I can tell, not one German. Clavell obviously wants to be taken seriously, but for all the promises of having Something Important to say about Big Themes, there's very little delivery. The film doesn't even approach the political and historical sophistication of such big budget spectaculars as "Lawrence of Arabia," much less provide any insight into the complexities of the *very* complex Thirty Years War.

Of course, one could argue that the film isn't really about the Thirty Years War, but rather an allegory about all war. Certainly the "Lost Horizon"-like situation adds a level of irreality to the proceedings. For an allegory to work, though, it has to be pitched at a level of abstraction that makes us aware we should not take events literally. (Capra's film of "Lost Horizon," though a bit of a chore in its own right, at least succeeds at that task.) Unfortunately, "The Last Valley" contains too much gore, venality, parochialism, intolerance, envy, lust and petty-mindedness to allow such a fairy-tale situation to bloom. The film's physical Realism and attempts at historical veracity work against its allegorical pretensions.

A real filmmaker, someone who can make images compel regardless of the tinniness of the ideas they contain, might have been able to shape these events into something at least passably entertaining. As a director, Clavell is too honest and gentlemanly for his own good. He slogs along earnestly and methodically, rarely insulting our intelligence, but even more rarely engaging it. In short, in addition to lacking the context of Vietnam to give the story more punch, "The Last Valley" hasn't the *style* to succeed on its own right. It isn't so much a bad film as a set of actions, actors, ideas and themes waiting to be brought together.

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