This article is missing information about the film's production, and theatrical release. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page.(June 2018)
During World War I, soldiers of the British 5th Battalion's White Company under Cpt. Jennings charge a German trench as part of a larger assault. The young Pvt. Charlie Shakespeare initially refuses, but is coaxed along by Sgt. Tate. Many soldiers fall to machine-gun fire or artillery and the unit becomes lost in the fog.
After walking for hours, carrying Pvt. Colin Chevasse, now paraplegic, the unit comes across a maze-like network of trenches. There they find three terrified Germans, who ignore Private Willie McNess's cries for surrender in apparent fear of something further down the trenches. Pvt. Thomas Quinn shoots and kills one, another flees, while the third, Friedrich, surrenders. Convinced they have broken through the enemy lines, the soldiers decide to secure the trenches. They explore and find ominous signs: rotting bodies with protruding barbed wire and German bayonets litter the ground. Compasses and watches also have stopped working. While detonating charges to close off some passages, they hear a demon-like growl and blood pours from the mud.
Later, Pvt. Jack Hawkstone is ambushed by the second German hiding in the mud. Jack and Pvt. Barry Starinski wound and subdue him, but Thomas executes him with a pistol and scalps him despite Tate's interference. Attempts to contact command via radio reveal White Company was thought to have been obliterated during the assault before communications are lost.
Their first night in the trench starts uneventfully and Cpl. "Doc" Fairweather treats the wounded. Barry secludes himself but is distracted by strange sounds and finds three German corpses wrapped in barbed wire in a standing position. As he alerts the unit, one corpse suddenly comes to life and ambushes him. Charlie and Tate arrive to find Barry's corpse lashed to the wall with barbed wire. Suspecting that hidden German troops are responsible, the men violently interrogate Friedrich (who can also speak French, which Charlie understands). He explains that the other Germans turned on each other and that there is "evil" in the trenches.
The next morning, White Company piles up the German dead and clear the dugouts with grenades. Phantom sounds of incoming artillery and charging infantry cause Jennings to crack under the pressure, mistakenly shooting and killing Jack. Morale and discipline deteriorate, with Willie thinking of deserting. That night he is chased by an eerie red mist, hears voices, and is drenched in blood. Snapping, he flees into no man's land only to be shot by Pvt. Anthony Bradford. Doc attempts a rescue, but Willie, only able to crawl, is pursued by something tunneling in the mud that drags him under to his death. Meanwhile, Anthony, convinced that both he and the trenches are possessed by death, asks Charlie to shoot him so he will not kill anyone else. When the latter refuses, Anthony runs off.
In the morning, Thomas crucifies Friedrich alive on a wooden beam in no man's land and savagely beats him with a club. Jennings, now insane, orders an inspection, but Thomas instead subdues and stabs the officer to death. Tate attacks Thomas, but during the fight gets tangled in barbed wire. Thomas then kills Tate and taunts Charlie when he refuses to shoot, but is then restrained and impaled by living strands of barbed wire that rise from the mud, forcing Charlie to kill him.
Freeing the crippled Friedrich, Charlie arms him with a rifle to defend himself before running off to find Doc. He finds Colin who, though pale and covered in flies, appears to be able to move his legs under the blankets. However, it is only the rats that have chewed off his legs, and Charlie tearfully euthanizes the boy. He then finds Anthony, who has tied Doc up with barbed wire and both men plead Charlie to kill Anthony. Again, Charlie refuses, and Anthony shoots Doc in the head. Shakespeare finally gives in and kills the chaplain.
The soil under the German corpse pile starts to cave in, while barbed wire blocks every passage, and Charlie is sucked down into the pit. He wakes up in a cave full of corpses, where living versions of his unit sit eating together like they were on the first night, including himself. He flees, reaching the trenches. Friedrich, now in perfect health, appears and points his rifle at him. Charlie, exasperated by the apparent betrayal, shouts in both English and French that he tried to help him. Friedrich calmly acknowledges this in English, saying he is free to go, pointing to a ladder leading up into no man's land before seemingly vanishing. Charlie climbs out of the trench and leaves to an unknown fate, disappearing into the fog.
Some time later, another team of British soldiers arrives at the trench. Seeing Friedrich sitting idly alone, they shout at him to surrender, to which he complies by lifting his hands. He then gives an ominous stare before the screen fades, implying that this will all happen again.
Cast
Jamie Bell as Private Charlie Shakespeare. Aged 16, he lied about his age to sign up, but is initially more cowardly than the other men.
Ruaidhri Conroy as Private Colin Chevasse, who is left paraplegic by a spine injury and has to be cared for.
Laurence Fox as Captain Bramwell Jennings, the unit's official commander, who is seen as out of his depth.
Dean Lennox Kelly as Private Willie McNess, a Scotsman and the unit's point man.
Torben Liebrecht as Friedrich, a German soldier taken prisoner by White Company.
Kris Marshall as Private Barry Starinski, the unit's marksman.
Hans Matheson as Private Jack Hawkstone. He carries a harmonica, playing it to lift morale.
Hugh O'Conor as Private Anthony Bradford, the unit's chaplain and radio operator.
Matthew Rhys as Corporal "Doc" Fairweather, the unit's medic.
Andy Serkis as Private Thomas Quinn. He is brutal, remorseless, and comfortable with the violence of war.
Hugo Speer as Sergeant David Tate. The squad XO, Tate is seen as more of a leader by the men than Jennings.
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2019)
Production credits include F.A.M.E. Film & Music Entertainment AG of Munich,[1] which later became Deutsche Cannabis.
Home media
The film was released on DVD by Fox on 16 Jun 2003. It was re-released by Live/Artisan on 22 Jun 2004 and again by Pathe on 3 Oct 2005.[2]
Reception
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2019)
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Deathwatch received an approval rating of 25% based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 4.6/10.[3] Critics mostly praised the film's creative premise and atmosphere, but criticized its story execution and editing.
Alan Jones of The Radio Times rated the film one out of five stars, writing, "There's little to set the pulse racing, apart from some ghostly noises and a few gory effects, and Bassett's lumbering direction blasts any artistry, horror or suspense clean out of the target area."[4]Allmovie gave the film a positive review calling it "a highly crafted atmospheric creep-out that knows when to go for the jugular and when to slather on the paranoia".[5]TV Guide awarded the film 2.5/4 stars stating: "Bassett deserves half a salute for Twilight Zone-ish wallow in WWI misery, which works up some creepy atmosphere between scenes of dehumanizing combat. But the spook show element ultimately seems simultaneously ghoulish and hokey, and the pacifist moral is hammered home with blunt obviousness".[6]Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian gave the film a mixed review, praising the film's premise and direction but panned the film's dull script.[7] Nev Pierce from BBC awarded the film three out of five stars, while noting the film had its faults, Pierce called it "A creepy, authentically nasty little horror film".[8]
Related Research Articles
Sands of Iwo Jima is a 1949 war film starring John Wayne that follows a group of United States Marines from training to the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. The film, which also features John Agar, Adele Mara and Forrest Tucker, was written by Harry Brown and James Edward Grant, and directed by Allan Dwan. The picture was a Republic Pictures production.
Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising military trenches, in which combatants are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery. It became archetypically associated with World War I (1914–1918), when the Race to the Sea rapidly expanded trench use on the Western Front starting in September 1914.
Journey's End is a 1928 dramatic play by English playwright R. C. Sherriff, set in the trenches near Saint-Quentin, Aisne, towards the end of the First World War. The story plays out in the officers' dugout of a British Army infantry company from 18 to 21 March 1918, providing a glimpse of the officers' lives in the last few days before Operation Michael.
A trench knife is a combat knife designed to kill or incapacitate an enemy at close quarters, such as in a trench or other confined area. It was developed as a close combat weapon for soldiers attacking enemy trenches during the First World War. An example of a World War I trench knife is the German Army's Nahkampfmesser.
Shoulder Arms is Charlie Chaplin's second film for First National Pictures. Released in 1918, it is a silent comedy film set in France during World War I, the first of three films he made on the subject of war. It co-starred Edna Purviance and Sydney Chaplin, Chaplin's elder brother. In this film, Chaplin is never in his Little Tramp outfit.
The Lost Battalion is a 2001 American war drama television film about the US 77th Division's Lost Battalion during World War I, which was cut off and surrounded by German forces in the Argonne Forest during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of 1918. The film was directed by Russell Mulcahy, written by James Carabatsos, and stars Rick Schroder as Major Charles Whittlesey. The film was shot in Luxembourg. It is an A&E Original Movie, premiering on the network on December 2, 2001. It is also played on A&E's sister networks such as The History Channel. It was released on home video in January 2002.
Passchendaele is a 2008 Canadian war film, written, co-produced, directed by, and starring Paul Gross. The film, which was shot in Calgary, Alberta, Fort Macleod, Alberta, and in Belgium, focuses on the experiences of a Canadian soldier, Michael Dunne, at the Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, inspired by stories that Gross heard from his grandfather, a First World War soldier.
The Trench is a 1999 war film written and directed by William Boyd and starring Paul Nicholls and Daniel Craig. It depicts the experiences of a group of young British soldiers in the 48 hours leading up to the Battle of the Somme in 1916.
Private Peaceful is a novel for older children by British author Michael Morpurgo first published in 2003. It is about a fictional young soldier called Thomas "Tommo" Peaceful, who is looking back on his life so far and his going to war. The story focusses on the harsh realities of English rural life and warfare, and highlights the British Army's practice of executing its own soldiers during the First World War. Morpurgo was inspired to write the novel after learning about the around 300 British and Commonwealth soldiers who were shot for crimes like desertion and cowardice. The novel helped further the campaign to grant posthumous pardons to the men, which were agreed and implemented by the UK Government in 2006.
Trench raiding clubs, or trench maces were improvised melee weapons used by both the Allies and the Central Powers during World War I. Clubs were used during nighttime trench raiding expeditions as a quiet and effective way of killing or wounding enemy soldiers. The clubs were usually made out of wood. It was common practice to fix a metal object at the striking end in order to maximize the injury inflicted. Another common design comprised a simple stave with the end drilled out and a lead weight inserted, with rows of large hobnails hammered in around its circumference. Most designs had some form of cord or leather strap at the end to wrap around the user's wrist. Bosnian soldiers serving in the Austro-Hungarian army were fond of using maces. They were also used by officers to finish enemy soldiers wounded by poison gas attacks.
All Quiet on the Western Front is an epic anti-war television film produced by ITC Entertainment. It was released on November 14, 1979. Based on the 1929 book of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque, it stars Richard Thomas and Ernest Borgnine. Directed by Delbert Mann, this film is a joint British and American production for which most of the filming took place in Czechoslovakia.
The Bunker is a 2001 war horror film directed by Rob Green, written by Clive Dawson and starring Jason Flemyng.
Stars in Battledress (SiB) was an organisation of entertainers who were members of the British Armed Forces during World War II.
The Lost Battalion is the name given to the nine companies of the US 77th Division, roughly 554 men, isolated by German forces during World War I after an American attack in the Argonne Forest in October 1918. Roughly 197 were killed in action and approximately 150 missing or taken prisoner before the 194 remaining men were rescued. They were led by Major Charles W. Whittlesey. On 2 October, the 77th division launched an attack into the Argonne, under the belief that French forces were supporting their left flank and two American units including the 92nd Infantry Division were supporting their right. Within the 77th sector, some units, including Whittlesey's 308th Infantry, were making significant headway. Unknown to Whittlesey's unit, the units to their left and right had been stalled. Without this knowledge, the units that would become known as the Lost Battalion moved beyond the rest of the Allied line and found themselves surrounded by German forces. For the next six days, suffering heavy losses, the men of the Lost Battalion and the American units desperate to relieve them would fight an intense battle in the Argonne Forest.
Unternehmen Michael is a 1937 German film directed by Karl Ritter, the first of three films about the First World War which he made during the period when the Third Reich was rearming.
Open Grave is a 2013 American post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego, starring Sharlto Copley and Thomas Kretschmann, Joseph Morgan, Erin Richards, Josie Ho, and Max Wrottesley in supporting roles. Josie Ho plays the character of a mute. All the characters, excluding the mute, suffer from amnesia and cannot remember anything from their lives. The story follows them trying to figure out their identities and their past while evading zombie-like humans affected by rage virus and also their struggle to escape the forest they are stuck in. The film received generally negative reviews from critics.
Forbidden Ground, also known as Battle Ground in the United States, is a 2013 Australian action drama film, starring Johan Earl, Tim Pocock, and Martin Copping, set against the backdrop of World War I. It was written by Earl, Denai Gracie, and Travis Spiteri, and directed by Earl and Adrian Powers.
Chances is a 1931 American pre-Code war drama film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. It is based on the 1930 novel by A. Hamilton Gibbs.
El Alamein - The Line of Fire is a 2002 Italian war-drama film written and directed by Enzo Monteleone. The film won three David di Donatello awards, a Nastro d'Argento for best sound and a Globo d'oro for best new actor. The film is set during the Second battle of El Alamein, which is seen from the Italian perspective.
Trench 11 is a 2017 Canadian horror thriller film directed by Leo Scherman. The movie stars Rossif Sutherland, Robert Stadlober, Charlie Carrick, Shaun Benson, Ted Atherton, Luke Humphrey, Jeff Strome, Adam Hurtig, and Karine Vanasse. The setting takes place near the end of the First World War where a group of Allied soldiers are sent to investigate a secret German bunker and discover the horrors that lay beneath it.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
