Am I Missing Something?

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This film has all the quintessential elements a film should possess-a superb cast, an untold story delivered from a unique perspective, wonderful writing interspersed with moments both light and humorous as well as thought-provoking, and a wonderful director at its helm. It beautifully conveys the banality of everyday life for front-line troops combined with the sheer terror of modern warfare and enables the American viewer to empathize with an enemy fighter in a way that few war movies have done in the past. Although I was surprised by the high level of realism and technical detail achieved by the film, it was the relationship of the German and Italian soldiers, a relationship that has rarely been explored despite Hollywood's obvious fascination with the European theater, that truly carried the film. The tension-filled, yet often comical dynamic between the downtrodden soldiers of the two armies, seemingly fighting for dramatically divergent goals, fully captivated me, allowing me to forget that the American GI was little more than an afterthought in the film. A film that is particularly relevant for our times and should be viewed by all-highly recommended!

"Last Letters from Stalingrad", the 1950 compilation of the supposedly authentic war letters of Nazi soldiers caught in the bloodiest WW2 battle, has become the primary source of inspiration for the unprecedented war epic portraying the last days of WWII fighting in Italy - "The Fallen" and its second part "The Last Letters of Monte Rosa". Authenticity, viewed here as a meticulous, accurate re-enactment of the historical details - battleground weapons from period rifles to tanks and planes, soldiers' uniforms, etc - is more than sufficient condition for the compassionate and intimate presentation of the war daily routine with its sudden changes and upheavals, its cruelties and its rites. In this shoe-string budget production the up-and-coming filmmaker Ari Taub brings fear, absurdity and humor (all related to everyday realities of war) - into their proper balance. In "Letters" the enemy (the Allies) is not personified, and our attention is focused instead on the uneasy relations between the German infantry and the Italian troops mercilessly raided by the partisans. Hollywood storytelling conventions are inevitable for such a traditional narrative, shot at the same time with - but started even before - the late-nineties wave of WWII epic blockbusters like "Thin Red Line", "Saving Private Ryan" or "Ivo Jima". At the same time a certain theatricality of the everyday, certain comical twists of even the most sad episodes, a true indie spirit of his "Letters" has radically distinguish the film from the glitz and glamour of the "dream factory". Almost as ambiguous as "Last Letters from Stalingrad", Taub's retro-version also does its best to show a "human document which bares the soul of the man at his worst hour". Moreover, due to its unique balance between the tragic and the comical it provides a true Aristotelean, cathartic release of the emotions, especially in the final scene of German martyrdom and their last photograph for the American magazine (hence for posterity). After all, Ari might be short for Aristotle.

This is a wonderfully told story of the relationships between the German and Italian soldiers during WWII. It is beautifully shot, touching, poignant and at times extremely funny. One of the things that stands out about this film is the realism, the waiting, life in the trenches, then the inevitable horror of the randomness of war. This perspective of the war through the eyes of our "enemies" is fascinating.The acting is superb and very, very real! You truly see the personality and cultural differences between the Italians and Germans in a way that is never stereotypical. A real gem! A truly beautiful film....

Last Letters from Monte Rosa tells a story that hardly has ever been told before on the screen. The action takes place in Italy during the Second World War. Our heroes are the Germans and Italians, the ones we were fighting against in that war. Surprisingly, the film doesn't take anyone's side apart from that of a human being: an ordinary person trapped in the extraordinary circumstances. And it does not matter anymore whose side the characters of the film are fighting on, the audience becomes sympathetic with them and takes their side. It was amazing to watch how the tragedy of the situation was intertwined with a simple human humor. The occasional laughter only made the story even more truthful. Just like in real life, in Last Letters from Monte Rosa the desire to live walks hand in hand with death, the tragedy walks along with comedy. I was delighted to see such a beautiful work that awakens empathy to other human beings, fulfilling one of the most noble purposes of art.