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Bernhard Wicki's 1959 anti-war film has been long overdue a UK release, but this Oscar-nominated tale of tragically misguided boyhood heroism remains powerful and poignant, and as relevant as ever.

In the last days of WWII, an group of schoolboys are called up to defend their small German town against the impending American advance. Due to their age and inexperience they are given the low-risk task of defending a bridge until it can be demolished, but a mishap leaves them stranded. As the enemy draws near, the boys defiantly stand their ground as the remains of the Wehrmacht retreat overhead.

Early scenes have a relaxed, carefree feel, which makes the transition to the bloody violence of the film's last half hour all the more devastating. Like The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), the unnamed crossing in The Bridge stands as a metaphor for the madness and futility of war, and as they boys' numbers dwindle, the original purpose of their mission becomes entirely lost.

Wicki's unflinching film was released only 15 years after the events it portrayed, and drew instant critical acclaim; Wicki would later go on to direct the German sequences in The Longest Day (1962). The Bridge was remade for German TV in 2008, and Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998) borrowed from it heavily, but this original is unmatched for its sober depiction of the way war corrupts the idealism of the young.

 

Milo Wakelin on 30th September 2009
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