The Battle of Neretva (1969)

Though there isn’t too much by way of detailed characterisation here, this is certainly one of the most affecting depictions of the Second World War you’re likely to watch. The Nazis are getting beaten in North Africa and are terrified that this might lead to an Allied landing somewhere in the Balkans. To that end, General Löhring (Curd Jürgens) is ordered to work with his Italian allies and with their Chetnik Yugoslavian fighters to defeat the army of Joseph Tito’s communist forces. On paper, it appears to be the simplest of pincer movements at he has command of vastly superior forces, but the defenders are made of stern stuff and although significantly outnumbered, outgunned, weighed down with many hundreds of refugees and dealing with reports of typhus spreading freely, they determine to get to the fast-flowing Neretva river and cross the bridge to some semblance of safety. That’s the plan, anyway, but with the winter snow at it’s January height and conditions in terms of materiel, food and water all getting desperate, this plan is going to have to change as circumstances change. There are a few faces like Yul Brynner, Franco Nero, Hardy Kruger and Orson Welles appearing from time to time, but this isn’t a film about stars. It’s a film about the perseverance of the ordinary soldiers facing a constant stream of bullets and shelling from tanks and artillery whilst they are hungry, cold, and sometimes reduced to taking shelter behind gravestones. There is a limited attempt to explain the internal and sometimes quite internecine political divides between both sides that is a little undercooked, but in some ways that helps create the sense of confusion that prevailed on both sides as the parties vied for supremacy. The visual effects are impressive as they really do offer us something of the true atrocities and brutality of war. Sacrifices are having to be made by families and loved ones, difficult orders given and obeyed, and all while these people are attacked indiscriminately from land and sky. It’s a battle where winning, for anyone, is merely surviving long enough to fight another day and director Veljko Bulajic manage to convey well the true horrors of mechanised conflict, pride and determination.