Overlord (1975, Stuart Cooper)

Harrowing stuff. I'm partial to movies that emphasize subjective experience (hence my love for, say, THE SON) and this does it very well. The expressionistic touches- dream sequences and the like- only underline the experiential nature of the narrative. We're not simply seeing this story through the protagonist's eyes- we're getting a window into his mind. Another thing that stood out for me when watching this is how different war is for Americans than for the rest of the world. A few attacks aside, we've been pretty safe over here, with very few major threats close by. European nations, on the other hand, are right on top of each other, and when a large-scale war breaks out, it's right in their backyard. I think this has a great deal to do with the differences between our outlook on war and theirs, since wars have done a lot more damage on the homefront over there than they have for us, military casualties aside. Please note that I'm not hoping for any kind of war to break out in the U.S.- I'm just saying that it's easy to be gung ho about war when it has almost never knocked at your door. Rating: ***1/2.