Second World War, a Russian soldier tries to survive, a German soldier is looking for food. In the confusing war environment among bombs and shootings they get trapped in the same trench and need to accept each other in order to survive: ‘The Trench‘ by J. Llamazares.
‘The Trench’ is a war drama but we certainly didn’t feel deceived by this one nor did we feel we’ve watched something we’ve seen before. War dramas often tend to impress because of their potential of highlighting the humans’ capacity to fraternize. This one though is a little different; it mainly focuses on reciprocal acceptance and not necessarily fraternization. We felt this was more a lesson of wisdom than one of goodness. And this makes this film great.
While they try and learn to accept each other the two soldiers reach a high level of tolerance but this balance will be put to the test by an unfortunate accidental ‘self denouncement’ of the German that will tense the established connection at the very end.
The outcome teaches a lot about tolerance and self control but more than anything it will reveal the depths where tolerance and self control come from: a deep understanding of war and human nature, of how war affects it and the power to reign over own feelings and emotions. But most of all, through his Russian character, director J. Llamazares will teach us about the wisdom of knowing the price of our own actions, serving the public a surprising ending at psychological level.
‘The Trench’ is a wonderful film with learning of great finesse and exemplary acting on Johnny Melville’s part. The cinematography is amongst the best in our festival so far, special effects are complex and convincing, make-up and sets very realistic. A truly magnificent film with great power of expression and good cinematic vision.
TMFF RATING:
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