DVD A Midnight Clear
Books and Publications Average Rating:

Rating: - Good Story, B Movie.
The story is set in late 1943 but is unbelievable due to bad costumes and worse acting. A decent plot exploring the relationship between man and his enemy may be enough to keep the watcher awake, but maybe not.

---

Rating: - Great movie!
The movie isn't your typical American hero type war movie. Like the characters that develop through the movie.

---

Rating: - An Underrated Film
This is one of the most underrated war (or anti-war) films of all time. The story is a familiar one: a group of American and German soldiers call their own unauthorized truce during the holidays and learn that the enemy isn't such an enemy after all. The original took place in WWI; this one is "updated" to WWII. (Paul McCartney even used the storyline in an early music video-- Tug of War, I think.) But never has the story been told so eloquently and beautifully as in this film. If you're looking for an inspirational movie for the holidays-- one that doesn't involve Santa Claus, angels, or Ebenezer Scrooge-- you should definitely consider "A Midnight Clear."

---

Rating: - Charming and Saddening Christmas Story
I'll admit--I loved the movie, the scenery in winter, the temporary "rapproachement" between U.S. GIs and German Wehrbacht soldiers (who insist they are not "NAZIs").

The story begins as the remaining 6 of a detatchment of "whiz kids" (scoring over 150 I.Q. on the Army exam) who constituted an "intelligence unit" are sent forward to an isolated house to do recon--that is, to inform their superiors (including a captain who was an undertaker and has the concomitant charm)....

After setting up quarters in the isolated villa, the recon boys discover they have pitched their quarters a stone's throw away from a small detachment of Wehrmacht soldiers--and older man with young boys. They swap antics--building a snowman with a Hitler mustache by the GIs, and a snowballfight started by the Germans.

I won't disclose what makes the film ultimately so touching and tragic...suffice it to say, there are good performances by future stars (e.g., Ethan Hawke). Anyone can identify with these youths stuck in the impossible situation--on the picket line of World War.

The screenplay is excellent, the cinematography is as well. My only criticism--the only man on the U.S. side who knows any German turns out to be the only Jew. And, as is typical of American films, he is portrayed as somewhat of a buffoon--lacking self-confidence, even though without him no negotiations with the Germans could take place, even with his broken Yiddish. He attributes most pitfalls to his being Jewish--therefore the Germans could not trust him, he is not manly enough. I was sad to see this portrayal, as well as the blonde, tall American being designated as the only one "Aryan-looking" enough to pose as an officer in negotiations with the Germans.

Nonetheless, Gary Sinese and Ethan Hawke in particular play their roles with heart, and we can imagine what it may have been like in December, 1944, just before the Battle of the Bulge, to have been stuck, as a young man, facing a dreaded enemy at the most poignant time of year. And for those reasons, I do recommend this 1992 film.