When Trumpets Fade (1998)
Made by director John Irvine as a production for cable channel HBO, it stars Ron Eldard as a US army private promoted against his will having survived a German assault in the Battle of the H?rtgen Forest in the winter of 1944. Physically and mentally exhausted from seeing all his comrades die around him, Irvine, together with a powerful performance from Eldard, make the viewer question whether or not he's a hero, a coward or simply a victim of circumstances happening around him.
Released the same year as Spielberg's ground breaking Saving Private Ryan When Trumpets Fade is almost as harrowing in it's portrayal of war violence. Much of the film is genuinely gripping with several beautifully affecting scenes amid the brutal carnage.
The battle itself was a long three month slog in which the Allies came up against heavy opposition near the Belgian / German border. The Germans fiercely defended the area because it served as a staging area for the 1944 winter offensive Wacht am Rhein - best known as the Battle of the Bulge. It remains the longest single battle the US army has ever fought with casualties around 140,000.
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