A Midnight Clear

Plot

Based on a novel by William Wharton, A Midnight Clear is set in the Adriennes Forest in December of 1944. A group of American GIs, all of whom have been together a bit too long, cling to the vestiges of their peacetime interests to remain sane. None are brilliant soldiers, though Will Knot Ethan Hawke is the one who exhibits the strongest leadership qualities. Billeted at a chateau, the soldiers begin hearing strange noises emanating from a graveyard, the handiwork of a group of mischievous German soldiers. The two enemy camps draw closer to one another as Christmas approaches, due in great part to the influence of GI Vince "Mother" Wilkins Gary Sinise. A sudden, impulsive hostile act results in the wholesale -- and unnecessary -- slaughter of the German soldiers. Though the exteriors are convincingly mid-European, the film was actually lensed in Utah. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Review

An interesting, offbeat war movie, A Midnight Clear is often so successful at capturing the loneliness and futility of war and its profound impact upon the men thrust together to fight it that you have to wonder whether Steven Spielberg and Terrence Malick were in some small way influenced by it with, respectively, Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line. Director Keith Gordon is admirably restrained and very detailed in his depiction of a group of six soldiers (Peter Berg, Kevin Dillon, Arye Gross, Ethan Hawke, Gary Sinise, and Frank Whaley) manning a chateau in the icy Ardennes Forest on the eve of the Battle of the Bulge. Like Spielberg later did with Ryan, Gordon wisely keeps the movie's focus on the six men and what they endure. The film has enough character study and intelligence to turn inside out war film staples and get at something deeper: the soldiers' quiet yet harrowing struggle to keep some semblance of decency, sanity, and faith in their lives. A good example: Out on the town together for the first time, the recruits try to pick up a prostitute. It's a cliché. Then they learn that the woman (Rachel Griffin) is actually a nice girl who just lost her husband to the war and is so grief-stricken that getting together with them is for her an act of self-destruction. Their sensitive consolation of her, and her eventual, gentle seduction of all of them, is a touching reminder of how people can find solace in strangers at the worst times of their lives, even war. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., Rovi

Cast

• Peter Berg - Bud Miller
• Kevin Dillon - Mel Avakian
• Arye Gross - Stan Shutzer
• Ethan Hawke - Will Knott
• Gary Sinise - Vince "Mother" Wilkins

Frank Whaley - "Father" Mundy; Larry Joshua - Lieutenant Ware; Dave Jensen - Sergeant Hunt; Curt Lowens - German Soldier; Rachel Griffin - Janice; Kelly Gately - Young Hero German; Andre Lamal - German; John C. McGinley - Major Griffin; Bill Osborn - American Sentry; Timothy S. Shoemaker - Eddie

Credit

Barbara Tfank - Costume Designer, Keith Gordon - Director, Don Brochu - Editor, Mark Isham - Composer (Music Score), David Lubin - Production Designer, David Nichols - Production Designer, Tom Richmond - Cinematographer, Marc Abraham - Producer, Armyan Bernstein - Producer, Bill Borden - Producer, Dale Pollock - Producer, Tom Rosenberg - Producer, Janis Lubin - Set Designer, Keith Gordon - Screenwriter, William Wharton - Book Author

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