Hart's War (2002)

Who payed the critics

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

A Major Disappointment

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

As a Disabled Combat War Veteran of The Iraq War it seems fitting that this is my first review. Esp as i am watching the movie as I type this. I won't waste any time or space on explaining the plot as that is easily found elsewhere. I will say that i think this movie is an incredible depiction of an... Amazing story. A story about war, racism, education, hope, and I BELIEVE, most of all, a movie about the ideas & ideals of A United States Soldier. (Please keep this mind).I am completely blown away by all of these reviews by people that think the story is so stupid because it would quote... Never happen! Unquote. I am also very disappointed in all of the subsequent reviews stating that the movie is stupid and boring on the premise of its plot alone.If you want to watch a war movie full of guns and battle scenes then watch a different movie. This is a movie about a prisoner of war camp... There were a lot of gun fights. This is after the battles... In between the waring and the fighting. And most of all I just want to point out that every review then even once includes the word concentration camp is a complete waste of time. This is not a concentration camp this is a P.O.W. camp. And furthermore it is a German P.O.W. camp not a Japanese. P.O.W. camp. There is a big difference.So many reviews that implausibility of the movie because the Germans were so nice to them and they would never let this happen... first off, the second apex and inciting incident in the movie is the execution of an American prisoner without cause or conversation.Also, One of the most poignant facts about this movie is that the German soldier in charge is a Yale educated German. Meaning he spent time in America & understood American ways. Some German officers even did follow the Geneva Convention. & some POWW camps were not strictly execution camps (as were so many P.O.W. camps in the pacific... Now while I have absolutely no citing that this actually ever occurred (the trial w/in the movie) the reason that this makes perfect sense is that this German DID allow it to happen... As so many other German soldiers allowed other random things to happen in other pow movies. Whether it is because he is amused by the entire situation or he is simply trying to pacify the masses and keep the Americans busy... It's simply happensI think one of the best comparisons to accurately portray this movie would be to the Great escape. As were that movie actually was about the prisoners and their escape plan & what followed. This movie is more about the prisoners...&... Their actual human emotions DURING the plot to escape. Racism during World War Two was real & very serious. Gentrification and separatism were very much alive... Even in... & especially sometimes soldiers minds.I was especially surprised by some of the professional reviews and how disappointed they were in the finale of the movie. HUGE SPOILER ALERT!!! The movie is not ruined, the plot or any of its points are not discredited, by the idea of, or the subsequent execution of Bruce Willis's character. As I stated in the beginning, this movie is about the ideas and ideals of a soldier. Or perhaps even more so, the ideas and ideals of what the United States Army considers a perfect soldier. The rules in a p.o.w camp were simple... If you try to escape you would be executed.In the Great Escape almost all of the near dozens of men who participated in the plotting & action of, escaping were rounded up & executed. Which is exactly what is about to happen at the end of this movie. Until Bruce Willis stops it by offering up his life, the life of an officer, for the lives of his men. He is, by the Army's actual manual, every aspect of a hero. Of a true hero. Yes he's racist, No he wasn't exactly open to the idea of lesser educated officers... but not only do both of those thoughts change slightly by the end of the movie... But by sacrificing himself for his men he is, in that single action, showing you, the contrast of Colin Farrell's character & his actions in the opening of the movie. When Colin Farrell is captured & interrogated, he is only released into the p.o.w camp after he gives up the location of other men other units & equipment locations. One of Bruce Willis's character's biggest problems with Colin Farrell's character throughout the entire movie is that he knows that. He knows Colin Farrell gave up other soldiers, possibly even their lives, for his life to be spared. Now, as immediately as Bruce Willis hates Colin Farrell's character for that, he grows to understand that not all men are the perfect soldier, & that some quote lesser perfect soldiers unquote can sometimes be better men.This is, VERY SIMPLY Hart's war. Who is worth it? How many men, how many lives, can equal to just one life?When is sacrificing yourself, or perhaps in metaphor... Sacrificing your very ideas and ideals, your belief system, and therefore your life as it was... Worth it?Bruce Willis is not just letting a German soldier of shoot him in the head so that he won't execute 50 other men instead. Bruce Willis Is allowing Colin Farrell and all of the men watching, the opportunity to realize that all men can change. And that that change is worth it... If its for the greater good.

Sure, this could happen.A ragged group of American P.O.W.s wish to hold a 'trial' (heh-heh) to clear the name of a "colored" American pilot who was executed for attempting escape.High-ranking German officers agree to partake of the trial since they have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ELSE TO DO.... no war business to attend to, no guns to re-load, no chicks to screw, no cigarettes to smoke, etc. In other words, they don't mind wasting their time with this charade.In keeping with Hollywood's hatred and prejudice of the Germans, every German whom ever lived is the 'bad guy'.Forget it.

This is a film in desperate search of a genre. It starts off as a classic WW2 thriller, with German ambushes in a snowy landscape and plenty of twists and turns within a short time. It moves into POW camp territory, with varying factions vying for power in a prison territory. Not content to stay there, HART'S WAR then turns into a murder mystery (with added racial commentary) before finally setting on its path as a courtroom drama for the rest of the running time.The veering from genre to genre gives the film a bit of a disjointed feel, but for the most part I could forgive that because I found this to be an entertaining movie. Colin Farrell, back when he was making an effort to break into stardom and teamed up with bigger actors (Bruce Willis in this, Tom Cruise in MINORITY REPORT), doesn't put a foot wrong and Willis has the liberty to steal all of his scenes as the gruff, grizzled colonel. I've always liked Terrence Howard, too, and he bags a meaty role here.The film isn't always engaging. Some of it, those cross-over bits inbetween the various genre bits, are rather dull, and there are a few too many CGI warplanes for my liking. But come the end, I was caught up in the story and the characters were the thing that kept me watching, especially as the latter moral dilemma plays out. Okay, so the excruciatingly sentimental ending (yes, it's as bad as the end of LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING) is way over the top, but until then HART'S WAR does its job and makes a refreshing change of pace from the usual wartime heroics.

Hart's War is one of the average movies that doesn't have an original story lines but make you enjoy the movie because of the twists and plot. What I like in this movie is the message about racism in the army. The story is about a lieutenant in a German POW camp asked to defend an African-America man accused of killing another US POW mate. I have seen many courtroom drama and I am pretty sure that this is an adult and violent version of To Kill a Mockingbird.Even though this is a courtroom-ish drama, this is also a POW story. Like many POW stories we already have a slight idea in our heads how this ends.About the performance, I'd say they were okay. Colin Farrell's performance is good enough for me. Bruce Willis' one is outstanding.Overall this movie is likable but it doesn't leave a mark in our minds that makes us remember about this movie in our lifetime.