Saints and Soliders

Saints and Soldiers takes us once again to World War 2, a genre that I love and know very well. Most of my favorite movies take place here. So, you know my standards and expectations are very high. Because of those expectations, I really had to wait and get in the mood to watch it.

This movie was very good, but I will confess its not for everyone. Most of this movie is pretty slow. There's only a couple of action sequences in the whole thing. So if you're looking for an action movie, this isn't it. Instead, the "action" in the movie is more about the suspense of following these soldiers stranded behind enemy lines and wondering if they'll make it to saftey with their critical information.

The reason I like this movie and recommend it is that it deals with subject matter that I had never heard of before, and addresses it in a way I have never seen before. Saints and Soldiers succeeds because the story is based on religion, more specifically a missionary turned solider named Deacon.

The story begins after the "Malmedy Massacre." Until this movie, I had no idea this event even took place. Late in December 1944, the Battle of the Bulge was beginning. This was the last desperate attempt by the Germans to turn the tide of the War and push the Allies back into France. Here, at Malmedy, a German army massacred over 80 captured American soliders. Apparently this wasn't the first time this had happened. The story of the movie follows the survivors of this massacre. They stumble across a downed British pilot that has information that could help stop the German advance. Their mission is to get him back to safety with this critical information.

The group is 5 soldiers. They have one working gun, and are surrounded by enemy. They have to sneak their way past the Germans and make it to safety. At the beginning we learn that Deacon, manning the only gun, is a great shot but also used to be a missionary in Germany. The juxtoposition of being religious and being a badass solider who fights for the righteous cause is something I never grow tired of. (See Constantine, where Keanu Reeves plays a damned man trying to redeem himself by murdering demons). He's interesting because of this contradiction: he's peaceful, yet kicking ass killing Nazi's in the name of the Lord...can you argue with me that there is nothing more badass as far as contradictions go? What's best is that you actively see him struggle with this contradiction through his flashbacks, and it really torments him.

So, Deacon's perspective is a little different because he sees the humanity in the enemy even when his comrades do not. He clashes specifically with the Medic, who is an athiest and antagonizes Deacon for fraternizing with the enemy. Only towards the end is when I realized that the message of the movie was within this drama between Deacon and the Medic.

Deacon at one point saves an enemy solider because he had preached to that soldier before the war. This enemy solider ends up helping the group to safety. Deacon, despite being a great shot, helped the group far more with his message as a missionary that ultimately turned an enemy into friend than he did with any of the bullets in his gun. Pretty cool eh? And it gets even better, because this conversion of enemy to friend also leads to the Medic changing his perception of Deacon too...but you'll have to see the ending to figure that one out.

****SPOILER****

In the end, the Medic survives the ordeal because of Deacon. Not only does Deacon save his life literally by holding off the Germans to cover the Medic's escape, but in dying in the process, he also saves the Medic's soul. Deacon's sacrifice with the help of the converted (ie "saved") German solider, make such an impression on the Medic, that they change the War for him. The Medic realizes that Deacon literally saved his life by preaching to the very people the Medic hated. In quite blunt irony, Deacon healed the Medic's soul and relieved him of his hate. This is proven when you see the Medic takes Deacon's Bible at the end of the movie. Thus, you imagine that the Medic, a flawed healer at the beginning of the movie, is now an impassioned healer by the end, and in theory takes up Deacon's cause.

To say that most great war movies are anti-war is now obvious, but I've never seen a movie use religion so persuasively to make the case against war. The message of peace, that ultimately saved the group, got the intelligence back to the allies, stopped the German advance, and saved the Medic was more powerful than any gun.

--Chris