I don't remember the last time I watched a film that made me so angry. Perhaps I have never seen one that so quickly and effectively reduced me to the helpless rage that makes tears squeeze out of my eyes as my hands uncontrollably clench into fists. The utter hypocrisy of the French military command as portrayed in this film and the utter dehumanizing unfairness of the entire situation made me feel like a child, or like someone who knows that somewhere a great wrong is being perpetrated against the helpless. This is a terrifically powerful film; polemical and propagandist, yes, but so immensely effective.

Kirk Douglas leads a standout cast as Colonel Dax, the leader of a battalion of French soldiers manning the trenches during World War I. For two years they have occupied the trenches, moving forward or backward mere meters a month while experiencing horrific losses. Adolphe Menjou plays General Broulard, the corps commander, who wants a public relations coup and decides to order General Mireau (played to sickeningly petty perfection by George Macready) to have his troops attack and take a German position known as the Ant Hill. The mission is impossible, and will lead to the deaths of most of the soldiers. But Mireau wants a promotion, so he orders Dax to lead his men on the suicide mission. After a heroic but futile attempt during which many of the men do not even make it out of the trenches because of the heavy German fire, the French soldiers retreat to the trenches. Mireau, who watches the assault from the safety of a bunker, orders his artillery to fire on his own positions, but the artillery officer refuses. Mireau decides, with the help of Broulard, that three men will be tried for cowardice and executed because they refused to run to certain death.

Dax represents them in the sham court martial and protests valiantly for their lives, but the cards are stacked against them. Mireau wants to cover up his actions and find a scapegoat for the failure of the impossible attack, while Broulard is so distant from the reality of the situation that he has caused. He sees it more as public relations, thinking that the public and the press will want to see something done about the stalemate in the trenches. He logically (to the French officer corps, at least) decides that killing a few soldiers now and then is preferrable to looking inward at his own motives.

Throughout the film is a strong class conflict, as the officers are portrayed as educated and rich men who have nothing in common with the men they order to their deaths, often calling them children or animals. The only officer who sees through it is Dax, whose experience as a trial lawyer (and his basic humanity) has given him the ability to see the injustice of the events portrayed. His impassioned speech to the court martial when it becomes apparent that it is a well-dressed lynch mob is heartbreaking.

I cannot think of a single actor in the film who didn't give the performance of a lifetime. Douglas leads with his chin, perfectly personifying the rage I felt during the film. The other real standout is Ralph Meeker, who plays one of the soldiers chosen to die for his general's crimes. He was chosen for the court martial because he witnessed his commanding officer murdering one of his own troops, and his awareness of the corruption inherent in the proceedings is devastating. George Macready, as the general who would rather his men die than lose a promotion, is artistocratic idleness and degeneracy incarnate.

Coupled with the passionately told story and the stunning performances is the flawless direction. I think that this film is one of Stanley Kubrick's most assured. Credit must be given to cinematographer George Krause, with whom he created some of the most harrowing and well-photographed battle sequences in history. The hazy and nightmarish assault on the German positions, through tangles of barbed wire and the bodies of dead soldiers, is something that should be shown in every film class in the country. The deep-focus photography that Kubrick is known for looks no better than in the courtroom scene, especially the shots of the accused. If this was the only film Kubrick made, he could have died happy with the knowledge that he had created an immortal work of art. I thank him for creating so many more to go along with it. This is one of the greatest films I have ever seen.