Released: 1959

Dir. Bernhard Wicki

Impressions from First-time Viewing

     Movies come and go, and sometimes there are movies that stay with us for a while. Perhaps longer. This is the case with the West German film The Bridge. Made in 1959, The Bridge tells the story of a small group of teenage boys who are left to defend a small bridge from the advancing American army at the very end of World War 2.

     When I was much younger, pre-high school, I started to watch the English dubbed version of The Bridge. I didn’t last long. I was looking for a big action-packed war movie, along the lines of Battle of the Bulge, or Kelly’s Heroes. The Bridge is not those movies. This is a human war movie. And I have now, gladly given it a second chance. This is a stunning film.

     At the time the film was released one of the underlying themes was about the fanatical devotion to defend an ideology no matter how misguided it may be. Shockingly, and sadly, that idea is still true today. However, I don’t want to discuss politics, but rather the point of view of the film, and the horror from going from a simple existence to that of the terror of war that seemed so far away. This is what the film does so brilliantly.

     When we meet the seven boys, they are just that, boys, going to school, discovering girls, arguing with their parents, suffering heartache for the first time, getting into trouble, teasing one another. It’s late April 1945, and war up until now has passed their small town by. There is an absence of adult men, but life is going on as normal as can be. In a short space of time, we are integrated into the lives of these young men, discovering a life emotionally relatable, in trying times. Looming over them, however, is the fact they know the draft is coming, and they will have to serve the Fatherland in a last-ditch effort to save their country. A couple of the boys are even eager for the chance to fight.

     By the end of the film, I was left speechless, sitting in the dark trying to process what I had just witnessed. The transformation from a simple carefree life to terror and death has never seemed so vivid. We get to know the general layout of the bridge and the village, so we are almost as familiar with it as the boys are. Their youth is connected to the bridge, like anyone who is connected to where they grew up. By the end of the day their draft notices arrive, and they must report first thing the next morning. After one pitiful day of training, in the dead of night, the alarm is sounded. It is time to go to war.

     Despite being a part of the German military machine, the boys are effectively leaderless. Either not taken seriously as soldiers, abandoned, or forgotten. They are never given an order to retreat, even though once elite units are fleeing around them. They are alone to fend for themselves. Vowing, ‘Whoever defends one square foot of German soil defends Germany.’ They are left at the bridge in the dark of night, but as the sun rises, the fog lifts, the retreating army all but gone, leaving a haunting image of seven boys, in their ill-fitting uniforms standing in the stillness and calm, completely alone. The daylight bringing the most terrifying moments of the film. The calm.

     Sound can be the most effective element of any film, the unseen, here simply starting with the distant sound of artillery. The sound of machine gun fire. Finally, the sound of tanks. Heard is the familiar clatter of tank tracks, accompanied by a metallic echo sound, that is eerie and completely alien sounding. The tension, dread and sense of doom build.

     While watching The Bridge, you cannot help but think what would you do if faced with a similar situation? Likely, you wouldn’t behave anywhere near what you imagine. And I think the film understands this extremely well.

     At this point in writing, I am very resistant to spoiling the outcome of the story, for anyone who has not seen it, so I won’t go any further. The Bridge is a powerful anti-war film about the tragedy and waste of war and brings it face to face.

The Bridge can be seen on the Criterion Channel.