In a world full of violence, to go back to a period of legitimate violence and introduce some of the elements that makes the type of modern warfare that freely uses children as protagonists, so horrific, is a very clever comment. This is probably the best film I have seen for some time, another well scripted, well acted world war two movie that was clearly made to a budget, and worth every penny. Using the notion that ones life is constantly replaying itself as a method of anchoring the personality of one character elucidates the sympathy that the character deserves and gives a meaning to his existence. It is very easy to see violence set in the past as acceptable while the same type of violence now is unacceptable and to have warm lovable characters performing excusable yet still unacceptable actions. I was left with a sense of moral confusion, feeling that the action was right, yet knowing that it was wrong. If for no other reason, the need to deal with my confusion, makes this a movie I shall watch again.

OK, this movie is horrible. Just FYI. On the off chance that you haven't seen it and might choose to subject yourself to this painful waste of celluloid, CAUTION SPOILERS OMG! So, where to start. Let's try at the beginning! The first scene is AWFULLY familiar... like a direct ripoff of Aleksandr Rogozhkin's "Kukushka". Prisoner being transported by MPs.... Jeep gets blown up, prisoner escapes. That is forgivable, though, as the following scene is pretty cool. Then it all starts to go downhill. So we have two characters, one a sensitive type who's lost and confused, and the other a psychopathic evil type who smashes a dead man's face to an unrecognizable pulp just to fake his own death. I'll call them Misty and the Psycho. Psycho makes Misty come along with him on a random wandering through "Western Europe". So they find a church with a cannibal in it. Psycho wants to kill the cannibal, but Misty got the gun now! Then the cannibal follows them around for a while and then kills himself. Doesn't eat them, doesn't do anything.... just hangs himself. Thanks, Jeff Burr, for this enlightening statement about NOTHING. So then our two heroes find a horse. They ride the horse to an old building and shack up for the night. In the morning, along come two people just back from a hunting trip. Psycho pulls his gun on them, knocks Misty out with the butt of it when Misty starts telling him to stop, and proceeds to play with the old woman's boobies, while the old man has already expressed rebellious tendencies. So, let's clear this up: Psycho wants the old man to watch him play with old lady boobs? Thanks again, Jeff! Since that makes sense! Oh, but this pathetic plot device leaps into clarity when the old man gets the gun from Psycho and captures him and Misty. Turns out this building is a hideout for the old man and old woman and their entourage of deformed and crazy orphans which they've trained to be anti-Nazi partisans.(oh, if I'm accidentally making this sound exciting, it isn't... when drawn out over about half an hour of random shots of foliage, pipes, and flashbacks that have no context or relevance). Oh, and then the Nazis show up. 60 of them, and a tank. Our heroes don't hide. Then a bunch of random fighting ensues where the Nazis don't want to kill them but they're too stupid to figure it out, and we discover that the reason the Nazis are here is to get at a cache of "art" hidden under a trap door in the building.... and by "art" I mean "The production company couldn't afford a poster of the Mona Lisa so I picked this up at a garage sale last weekend!" type "art". All I got to say is the Nazis were probably pretty depressed when they got to the art. So after about 300 or so Nazis are killed (note there were only 60 at the beginning) Misty sneaks out the back door with the remainder of the kids while Psycho causes a distraction. Also, I forgot to mention that the Nazis OFFERED TO LET THEM GO at one point and they were like "NO WAI JOO STEENKY KROWTS! WE WILL FIGHT TO THE AIND!". In fact, they really just sat there with no plan and then, after maximum carnage had been achieved (really incredibly boring carnage, might I add), they snuck away despite the fact that the Nazis "had them surrounded" earlier.... So anyways, Psycho screams "I AM THE CONQUEROR WORM!" about three times as he dies, and I die once each time he screams it. Talk about most incredibly retarded one liner ever. Seriously, why not just have him scream "I AM THE RED DEATH!!" or "QUOTH THE RAVEN: NEVERMORE MOTHERF**KERS" or something.... In conclusion, this movie is a pile of rat turds. Don't be fooled by the "independent film" label, this movie is only independent because Jeff Burr saved up enough money from directing such gems as "Pumpkinhead II" and "Puppet Master 5" that he could afford to go into co-production with a Romanian pimp and pay $3 a head for the crappy actors he got and push this baby into the world!

Somehow this film has been under promoted, under acknowledged and under represented. It is true fine art. And moving and full of heart and brilliance. The film must have flowed from Burr's subconscious in a way that masterpieces are formed. It is definitely not a "horror" film. And it is much more than a WWII film. You can reach a vast and personal range of interpretations, but at the very least, it leaves you with something that will stay in your mind and soul for ever. Put it up there with "Shindlers List" at least.Someone please pass this on to Jeff. I think that he dosen't realize what he has created here.Thanks Jef Burr ...It takes lots of courage to express this kind of brilliance.

STRAIGHT INTO DARKNESS (2006) *** Ryan Francis, Scott MacDonald, David Warner, Linda Thorson, Daniel Roebuck, James Le Gros, Nelu dinu, Liliana Perepelicinic. (Dir: Jeff Burr) The WWII melodrama has been done to death ever since V-E day and of late it appears a newfound appreciation for the subgenre has been unleashed ever since Steven Spielberg's groundbreaking SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. I must admit when I was given the task to view yet another struggle-against-all-odds military pic I wasn't crazy about the idea, let alone by an indie director who I never even heard of. However I was pleasantly surprised that my expectations would be overlooked for this well-executed and smartly produced low-budget pic is better than anticipated. Namely filmmaker Jeff Burr (who wrote & directed) and his by-the-seat-of-his-pants smarts manages to make the familiar fresh and the limited funds not necessarily a risk but an obstacle overcome. The story begins when two grunts Losey (Ryan Francis, who resembles a cross- pollination of Ben Affleck, Ed Burns and Paul Rudd) and Deming (Scott MacDonald, a low-rent Tom Sizemore) who desert their platoon (including James LeGros and Daniel Roebuck in cameos) after being shelled in a snowy minefield. Losey is plagued by nightmarish flashbacks to the horrors he's inflicted via his Army-issued flamethrower and the thoughts of his gal back home Donna, (Brittny Lane Stewart). Deming is half-crazed and has violent tendencies as the two trek across the frost-bitten no-man's land of the unnamed European terrain (shot in Romania with affective eeriness) and come across a lunatic priest (Gabriel Spahiu), a forest full of a wedding party dangling from nooses and a horse with no name until the tired duo come across an abandoned mill where they discover they are not alone.Here they find two school instructors (veteran character actor David Warner and Linda Thorson, best known from TV's "AVENGERS" as Diana Riggs' replacement) holed up with their orphan charges, a brigade of unwanted, developmentally challenged children who have been taught basic training in military weaponry in defense against the Nazi horde that have been through their wooded terrain and unbeknownst to the new strangers making tracks to overtake the edifice for a hidden secret that is housed there.Overall the production values are very good indeed, particularly the ethereal blue/black color schemes of cinematographer Viorel Sergovici; the kinetic editing of Lawrence A. Maddox and the elegiac musical score by Michael Convenrtino underscoring the dream-like quality Burr maintains in his sparse combination of Sam Pekinpah/Don Siegel/Robert Aldrich/Sam Fuller composition with different film stocks (Super 8 & 16mm for the flashbacks); various speeds of action (slo-mo and jarring sped-up nightmarish imagery to full tilt); skewed camera angles and quick scatter-shots interlaced make for a nerve wracking and compelling viewer ship. What Burr lacks in narrative dialogue (co-written by co-exec.prod. Mark Hannah) he makes up for in his visuals (and audio) skills in competent display.The acting is solid for the most part although it would've been nice if he allowed LeGros & Roebuck to be in a few more scenes (even if they were flashbacks) and one major hole in the plot (what the hell happened to the lunatic priest?) but the children do a fine job too, particularly the leg-less Nelu Dinu and the haunting Liliana Perepelicinic whose Anna wears an unnerving yet beautiful mask echoing "Eyes Without A Face". The film has an unspoken supernatural air about it too also recalling "The Beguiled", the Clint Eastwood Civil War Gothic thriller when an AWOL soldier finds himself at the mercy of a young girls' homestead. Burr could've used a bit more of that if that was his intention in the long run.