Benefit
Bluelighter
This is a Mormon film with a thinly veiled Christian message and a budget of less than 1 million dollars. Shockingly, it's not as terrible as you would expect.
Saints and Soldiers is a World War II drama set during the Battle of the Bulge; it features the Malmedy Massacre - when dozens of captured American GIs were executed by the Nazis. The plot involves 4 American survivors of the massacre and a downed British pilot who are trapped behind German lines and must make their way back to safe ground, all the while carrying vital tactical information.
The only real noteworthy aspect of the film (and the reason I'm writing this review of an otherwise subpar movie) is the production quality. It is absolutely unfathomable to think that this movie was filmed for under 1 million dollars. The sound editing, costumes and props are excellent. The film uses authentic World War II weapons (modified to fire blanks), authentic German armored vehicles and authentic uniforms. There's no way this could have been accomplished under budget without a lot of help from friendly Mormon World War II enthusiasts and collectors. Sometimes it pays to be Mormon.
The camerawork is quite good, albeit it a total rip-off of the color desaturation and other techniques as seen in Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers.
The movie draws from a pool of no-name Mormon actors and the results are predictable: really bad acting and dialogue. There is also a Christian message, but it doesn't beat you over the head with it. Any commentary on the nature of mankind and war is completely forgettable and/or conveyed in an unoriginal way.
Although in many respects it is a bad movie, I recommend this film for anyone interested in film production, as it showcases how to effectively utilize a budget (at the expense of good acting in this case).
Saints and Soldiers is a World War II drama set during the Battle of the Bulge; it features the Malmedy Massacre - when dozens of captured American GIs were executed by the Nazis. The plot involves 4 American survivors of the massacre and a downed British pilot who are trapped behind German lines and must make their way back to safe ground, all the while carrying vital tactical information.
The only real noteworthy aspect of the film (and the reason I'm writing this review of an otherwise subpar movie) is the production quality. It is absolutely unfathomable to think that this movie was filmed for under 1 million dollars. The sound editing, costumes and props are excellent. The film uses authentic World War II weapons (modified to fire blanks), authentic German armored vehicles and authentic uniforms. There's no way this could have been accomplished under budget without a lot of help from friendly Mormon World War II enthusiasts and collectors. Sometimes it pays to be Mormon.
The camerawork is quite good, albeit it a total rip-off of the color desaturation and other techniques as seen in Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers.
The movie draws from a pool of no-name Mormon actors and the results are predictable: really bad acting and dialogue. There is also a Christian message, but it doesn't beat you over the head with it. Any commentary on the nature of mankind and war is completely forgettable and/or conveyed in an unoriginal way.
Although in many respects it is a bad movie, I recommend this film for anyone interested in film production, as it showcases how to effectively utilize a budget (at the expense of good acting in this case).
