This movie doesn't deserve all the hate *SPOILERS*

This movie is a lot better than people give it credit for. Ok, yes there are some obvious technical flaws (uniform inaccuracies etc.) as well as the fact that they all speak British English, but at least it was consistent, unlike a movie like Enemy at the Gates that had about 5 different accents floating around.

I think the reason people didn't like this is because they were expecting it to be like Deathwatch or something of that sort. This movie is about guilt, about wartime atrocities, about how far men will go when pushed to the limits, and about the fine line between comrade and foe. It is about how people can be haunted by actions that they've done in wartime, and about how that trauma follows them forever. The movie is meant much more metaphorically than to be taken literally.

I'm not saying this should've received an Oscar nomination for best foreign film, but it certainly is more intellectual and has a better atmosphere than a lot of other movies I've seen with higher budgets. I thought the cast was strong, the script was decent, and it did a lot with the very minimalist budget it had. People need to learn to assess a movie on its own merits, and not based on how it compares to films with budgets in the hundreds of millions. This is no Saving Private Ryan or Downfall, but it isn't trying to be. Just because it doesn't fall into a strictly "horror" plot or doesn't have zombies, that doesn't mean it's a bad film. It did a great job of building a tense atmosphere that was slowly ratcheted up as the film went on, and it was subtle in its messages so it didn't come across pretentious or preachy. Again as I said, there wasn't anything massively groundbreaking, but this was a solid little film that did a lot with what it had. It deserves at least a 6.5. People need to stop hating.