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A Brilliant Conflict

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

First let me say that there are not enough movies made about WWI. Thats a shame.I didn't read the book, in fact I had never heard of this until one night in May of 2012, when I had promised to take my daughter to see "The Avengers" only to discover it was sold out when we got to the theater. We came back home and turned on the TV set and this movie was about to come on. Being a fan of WWI movies like "The Lost Battalion","Flyboys" and "The Trench", I thought that I'd give this movie a look.I was so glad I watched this movie. I was glued to my TV for both nights that it was on. I found the story gripping and moving. I didn't want to get out of my chair (not even to go get a soda from the refrigerator). I found the cinematography to be absolutely beautiful. The battle scenes were very moving, I felt like I was down in that crawlspace with them. I know that most people will call this a love story, but I would call it a human story. Amazing Story about coming of age, falling in love and going to war. I cant praise this movie enough.The acting is very well done, The Cinematography is amazing, the sets are very realistic, and the music score is good. I loved this movie. After watching a serious emotional movie like this, I wasn't in the mood to see cartoon-ish movie like "The Avengers" for a while.I loved this movie I purchased a copy on DVD

Although there was a lot left out of the original book, the storytelling in this TV miniseries was beautiful. I have been loving Eddie Redmayne for a while now, but after this film, I'm hooked! I am in love with him as was Isabelle. :) I loved the actress who played her as well. She reminded me of young Juliette Binoche. I thought it was a passionate and beautifully told story. The cinematography was spectacular and the massive destruction that WWII left was very well depicted here. More films should show how the Wealthy Upper classes acted as the Generals who would order the lower classes to put themselves on the frontlines basically for suicide missions to keep everyone else in good standing, including those who sat around thinking up brilliant ideas to have innocent young soldiers killed.

I feel I've wasted valuable chunk of my life watching this - the pace was so slow that it was painful at times. Eddie Redmayne in the main role was extremely wooden, as he seemed to spend most of his time staring expressionlessly into space for what seemed like an eternity. I understand that this actor has a number of awards in other roles (this is the first time I'd seen him) and he may well be more comfortable on stage rather than screen, but on the basis of this sample it would be doubtful if he could make a case for remaining in an acting career. There were occasional idyllic rural scenes which looked visually appealing, and one or two of the supporting actors put in reasonable performances, but these did little to offset the overwhelming tedium of the whole thing.

This movie has fine production values, good actors, moving music...but the love story left me cold. There is zero chemistry between the lovers, and its seems a cheat to make her (otherwise quite desirable) husband impotent.More to the point...what was the point? After showing us just how miserable WWI was, and how degraded human institutions are (sending young men to die horribly for no good reason), and how pointless love and human relationships are, because life leads inevitably to suffering and death...our transcendent ending comes with the revelation that a child has been born--so hooray, the cycle of misery can just go on and on. This is the standard "uplifting" ending to many a novel and movie, but for me, it just won't cut it any more. The "miracle" of progeny is the exact opposite, no miracle at all but one of the most common things in the world. Two people screwed and created a baby. Big deal.I respect the integrity and the ambitious nature of this movie--but only up to a point. If you want to bite off a really big theme (human futility), you'll have to take me somewhere else. Making a baby merely plays the hand dealt to us by the Selfish Gene, our only true lord and master. It's not a solution or a resolution to anything, not even a made-up story.