I'm not one of those who get my history from films (or think I know a book because I saw the film it's based on) but if you're going to put such a tagline at the beginning of a film make sure there's some semblance of truth to it. Fiction from the beginning: 101st Airborne were not at the Malmedy Massacre, did not take place in the massacre and pretty much, in my opinion, insults the mainly 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion who were. There are little nitpicks, of course, but that's huge. It's like the film U- 571 saying it was the American Navy who got the first Enigma machine when that was total fiction when in fact the HMS Bulldog of Britain's Royal Navy got the first one in 1941, and the US Navy only got one and that was in 1944 well after the British had already cracked the code. That's the biggest problem with American films such as these: they always have to be the heroes but not just the heroes: the first heroes, the ultimate heroes etc., everyone else pales in comparison (I'm American, by the by). There's a difference between being patriotic and just claiming patriotism that was never there to begin with.The only evidential events in this is the battles and places they mention; everything else is speculation and fiction for other purposes. Which is fine but be honest about it, at least. According to the commentary of the film on what actually is true are insignificant things (two guys of the same religion on different sides -- so what? It's like all Nazis were atheists, or something? -- a German POW made his food look like an angel: again: like all Nazis or Waffen-SS etc., were atheists? -- some US soldiers hid under a floor while Germans ate above them. So what? You know how many Jews during the war did that?) This film sure isn't about the Malmedy Massacre because that's that's over in the first five minutes. So, what is this film about? Four (or five) guys try to get to Allied lines without getting captured by the Germans. No. It's not about that. Oh, they got some intelligence by a British pilot they run into and must get that to the allies! No. Not about that, either. So what is it about? It's about the Mormon church (LDS) promoting Mormonism. That's what it's about. Now while it's finely thinned, not directly mentioned it is there and mainly with the main character who carries around his Book of Mormon (not the OT/NT Bible) and attempts to vainly convert another of the four who keeps pushing him away until the very end when he takes it from him at last. No more being a godless heathen atheist but now sees the light and becomes a Mormon, per sé. I'm sure that's the ultimate message.Eh, as an overall film: it wasn't that bad but it gets, at least from me, major points taken away by not displaying the actual battalion because, I feel, that does a disservice to those who not only died but also survived.

A lot has already been written about this little film that could. So, let me say that one of our local Christian stations played Saints and Soldiers on Memorial Day. I had my doubts, but it's rare that a highly rated film gets placed on the schedule for midday from this station. So, I sat for a while to check it out. By the time I knew what was happening, the film was over. Wow. That doesn't happen very often.For such a low budget film, this is one of the best human interest stories I've ever seen from the World War II perspective. It gets down and dirty in the trenches and explores the inner doubts, fears and certainties of the soldier's reality. It even, God forbid, shows us that even the enemy can have members that are both compassionate and understanding in the face of mindless human tragedy and death.My compliments to the extraordinary effort the technicians and extras put into placing these actors into real human situations and into a scenario that is hard to detect as a forest in Utah. We had a hard time figuring the location, even though we had been there in person. If high budget motion pictures had just a fraction of the attention to detail and freedom to express real stories that this one has, what an amazing set of movies we'd see on the big screen.I can do nothing other than highly recommend this film. It is exceptional. (written by a U. S. Coast Guard veteran).

I thought this film was very good. What I particularly liked was that this is almost the very first film I have seen where the weapons for each side were accurate. Not M-60 tanks dressed up as Panzers etc. They even had one German soldier with a StG44. Half tracks were correct on the respective sides too. My only minor gripe was that although the guy who played the British Pilot put in a great performance, why didn't they use a real Englishman? The acting was excellent. I saw it for the first time on Neflix. If you are a WW2 buff you will like this film. I'm surprised I never heard of it....maybe I'm not as up on films as I thought!

This movie follows 4 soldiers who are present at the Malmedy Massacre but who escape and make their way through enemy controlled territory back to allied lines. I watched this movie because I've read about the Malmedy massacre, and given the title and the fact that Chuck Colson recommended it, I thought it might have a perspective on the atrocity worth my time. Wrong! Intellectually and morally this movie is absolutely weightless and the rewriting of history is offensive. The depiction of what happened at Malmedy is pretty close to what some of the Germans involved claimed happened. Why would the Germans involved tell the truth? Furthermore, the German story is contradicted by the forensic evidence and contradicts the independent eye witness testimony of several survivors. The fact is that many of the men killed were undoubtedly executed--close range, bullet to the head, clustered together. The others were gunned down as they tried to escape, probably once they knew they would die otherwise. Further evidence against the German story is that Malmedy wasn't an isolated event, there were a number of other massacres, some involving civilians, attributed to the same group of German SS soldiers. So why did the movie choose to depict the event based on the German account? Because the truth would have conflicted with the platitudinous main theme of "we're all the same, we just wear different uniforms". I am a Christian so of course I believe we are all created in the image of God, but I find this kind of moral equivalence nauseating and intellectually weightless. The other thing that significantly detracts from this movie is that it is extremely predictable. I knew the ultimate fate of every character 1/2 way through the movie and many of these scenes were cliché. I gave it 4 stars because as a movie some of the scenes had their moments, I didn't turn it off, and there are so many other movies out there that are much worse so I have to leave room at the bottom to rate them.