Saints and Soldiers

Four American soldiers who survive a massacre in the Ardennes are left behind enemy lines and try to reach their own forces. On the way they pick up a downed British intelligence officer whose information turns the journey urgent. Ryan Little shot it on a very small budget, so there is little combat, a great deal of snow and forest, and the weight sits in the arguments between the men. The central character is a devout soldier and the film addresses the tension between belief and killing directly. The image is deliberately pale and drained. Among independent war films it was taken unusually seriously for its scale. Who it is for: viewers who like small-scale war films and narratives that argue morally. Who it is not for: anyone expecting large battles, since nearly all of this happens in the woods.