Trench Warfare in Black and White

Wooden Crosses (2007 DVD)
Directed by Raymond Bernard

France, 1932

In French with English subtitles

Hailed as an early antiwar milestone in French cinema, Les croix de bois is a visually striking WWI drama that follows a regiment of lovable losers along their path to the inevitably grim ending foreshadowed in the opening scene: a montage of marching soldiers dissolving into wooden crosses. Whether this was as heavyhanded in the 1930s as it is today is beyond me; however, I have to say that I was still impressed by the directness of the message and the poetry of many of the compositions. Part of a two-movie package from Eclipse/Criterion bookended with a 4-hour plus version of Les Misérables. (http://www.criterion.com/)