Land
Of Mine (2015/Sony DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: B+
During
the end days of WWII, the Danish Army took groups of young German POW
boys and forced them to work clearing the 2 Million land mines that
were planted along the Danish Coast. Young boys were given bare
minimal training to do what no one else would do or thank them for.
For the soldier and men, the war it was over, but for the boys it was
far from it. Treated more like animals than a man, they were forced
to make reparations at the risk of their own lives for a country that
hated them.
Based
on a true story, Martin Zandvliet's Land Of Mine (2015)
bravely tells the story of young German boys who were taken after the
end of WWII to find and dispose of active mines that the German
armies left behind. As prisoners of war, they were tortured, starved
and treat as scapegoats for the German prisoners of war. They
suffered from PTSD, were hated and despised and given false promises
to return home (if they survive) after clearing the fields. Treated
without respect or dignity, the corporal who were in charge of them
begins to understand even though the war was over and they won, it
gives them no right to disrespect to those who had survived the war,
no matter what the side.
This
film proves there are no true victors in war. It's not the machines,
weapons or WMDs that makes wars so terrible, they only symptoms of
the true cause, the human heart and it's potential hate another man.
War is the ultimate result of that hate and of those without
humanity. All the militaries around the world are designed to rid the
humanity out their soldiers in order for them to kill, it turns good
men into evil men... That no matter the reasons, causes, the country
or people it is simply just justification of legal murder. Roland
Moller, Louis Hofmann and Joel Basman lead the cast.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 DVD is about as good as it can be
for the format, while the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix (with Danish,
German and English) is dialogue-based often and not bad. Too bad
this was not lossy. Extras include a conversation with the director
and trailers.
-
Ricky Chiang
