Until today I hadn't seen "Die Brücke" for quite a few years. Today I was even more impressed than ever before. As powerful as possible, the movie shows how a carefree youth is ended in the cruellest way literally from one minute to another. The black and white cinemtography creates an eerie, yet laconic and realistic atmosphere. The whole film is to be highly recommended but there is one sequence that stands out (***SPOILERS AHEAD***): Trucks with hundreds of frightened, wounded German soldiers pass the bridge. They desperately try to stay ahead of the American tanks who follow them. You can tell from their faces what they have experienced on the front. They just want the war to be over. Our seven teen soldiers - fanatic and faithful as they have learned it in the Hitler Youth - just can't understand what's going on. No one bothers about them, so they are left for good on the bridge. And then they can hear the tanks. For some minutes the tanks can only be heard, what creates an incredible suspense.
One former comment criticized the "quiet life" in this town in the first half of the movie. I think this to be quite realistic. The town that is portrayed seems to have 10, maybe 20,000 inhabitants. Towns like this were not necessarily destroyed by bombs, even in 1945. In some rural areas, life went on day-by-day almost like in peace times.
One former comment criticized the "quiet life" in this town in the first half of the movie. I think this to be quite realistic. The town that is portrayed seems to have 10, maybe 20,000 inhabitants. Towns like this were not necessarily destroyed by bombs, even in 1945. In some rural areas, life went on day-by-day almost like in peace times.