A group of German boys is ordered to protect a small bridge in their home village during the waning months of the second world war. Truckloads of defeated, cynical Wehrmacht soldiers flee the approaching American troops, but the boys, full of enthusiasm for the "blood and honor" Nazi ideology, stay to defend the useless bridge.
Acting
Teen cast sells fanaticism crumbling into terror.
Direction
Panzer refuses to glorify; every death feels wasteful.
Director
Wolfgang Panzer
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on journalist Gregor Dorfmeister's novel, itself drawn from his own Hitler Youth experience—he watched friends die exactly like this.
The original 1959 film was Germany's Oscar submission; this 2008 remake aired on TV to scandalously little conversation about resurgent nationalism.
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