When Trumpets Fade

In the autumn of 1944 American units in the Hürtgen Forest have been dying for weeks over the same few kilometres. Private Manning, the only man to come out of his company alive, is promoted, and a man determined not to attach himself to anyone is handed the new boys. John Irvin made it for HBO and presents the war neither as heroism nor as tragedy but as administrative waste: command issues the same order from above, the numbers fall below, the map does not change. Ron Eldard leads. The forest is wet, grey and close, and the sightline never opens in any scene. The Hürtgen Forest was one of the longest and costliest battles in American history and has rarely been filmed. Who it is for: viewers who like realist war films and bleak stories. Who it is not for: anyone looking for hope, which the film never supplies.