Alone We Fight is a 2018 war film about a small but determined band of American soldiers who venture into dangerous enemy territory on a mission to stop an advancing German unit from breaking through the Allied line.
There are, of course, near countless untold stories of heroism and horror in war, and if you’ll pardon a moment to wax philosophical, lest we forget these brave few who spin tales of the worst and finest from the dark hollows of humanity. Of these, World War II has become perhaps the largest breeding field, entertainment taken to recasting history in hopes of sharing moments of terror and inspiration, courage and cowardice, victory and defeat. The latest in the lot is Justin Lee‘s talky Alone We Fight, a low budget effort set in one of the costliest battles in US Army history, making for an earnest yet problematic experience.
Deep in the German Hürtgen Forest, late 1944, a small group of Allied soldiers are captured and marched through the trees, soon made to dig what is clearly meant to be their graves, though a violent scuffle sees the Nazis killed and three Americans surviving, one mortally wounded. They make it back to an aid station where, bleeding out, one dies and the others find some limited refuge to take stock. Not long after, Sergeant Gregory Falcone (Aidan Bristow) and Private Michael ‘Boston’ O’Reilly (Matthew James McCarthy) are soon tasked by Colonel Bradley Armstrong (Corbin Bernsen) to head up a thousand yards behind enemy lines to destroy a German refueling depot, hoping to slow their steady advance and save the small encampment, which includes two female nurses (Lara Thomas Ducey and Kate Conway). All they need to do is sneak past a larger, better supplied force armed with snipers and minefields.
If you’ve seen (and be sure to you if you haven’t) Ken Burns‘ excellent documentary series The War, you will no doubt know well the Hürtgen Forest and its impact, a devastating three month fight set in dense trees, sometimes bitter cold, and thick fog. Alone We Fight doesn’t claim to have any roots to historical influence beyond the location, the names and story fictional yet grounded in authenticity, and as such, aims simply to tell an ideological story of men in war, platitude and clichés aplenty. This leaves much of the film with long, extended scenes of inaction, where these characters sit in eerie silence exchanging words on the usual topics, from sports and thoughts of back home to the indecency of the enemy and philosophical entanglements of fighting them.
This is an intimate film, meaning that the very small cast is always at the center, the movie as a whole lacking completely any sense of scale and scope that would give their predicament greater weight. As such, it is the conversations that mostly drive the film, with Falcone and Boston firmly entrenched in their own worldviews, Lee, who wrote the screenplay, using this as opportunity to mix in some dogma versus agency. Unfortunately, it comes at a cost, the structure and execution slow and ultimately without substance. It’s not that you don’t believe what they are saying, it’s simply delivered with no punch.
Alone We Fight is rife with ambition and Lee does what he can, the attention to detail absolutely noteworthy and the fighting mostly convincing. However, the film starts with terrific momentum and suspense, but then soon slips into a monotone series of dialogue that fails to give the story any urgency. There is some expected gruesome imagery and bits of violence, but nothing close to what has become standard in the genre and fans of such will surely be disappointed. To be fair, Lee isn’t trying to make that kind of film, but exactly what he is, isn’t all that clear either. War film enthusiasts looking to pad out their list might be the best audience.