646f9e108c Western Europe, 1945. The gentle, thoughtful, and sensitive Losey and the mean, base, and vicious Deming are two radically contrasting American soldiers who desert their platoons during the final days of World War II. The pair stumble across a ragtag group of orphans who have been trainedruthless killers. The two soldiers, the orphans, and the two adults who servesurrogate parents to the children are forced to make a desperate stand against a Nazi tank battalion who have them trapped inside an old crumbling building. I recently saw a special screening of "Straight Into Darkness" at the Italian Institute of Culturepart of the "Best of the Milan Film Festival" series. The title is very appropriate – disturbing and thought provoking, the film takes the audience straight into the darkness, violence and brutality of war. The actors are terrific, most notably Scott MacDonaldDeming. The character's base, savage "survival at any cost" mentality is terrifyingly portrayed by Mr. MacDonald. I was so involved in the story that I was ashamed of Deming being an American. I have seen many films set in World War II, but none has ever affected me quite like "Straight Into Darkness." From Jeff Burr, the director of the chilling horror anthology, "From A Whisper To A Scream", comes this highly original, sometimes surreal genre hybrid that mixes horror, magic realism, and bloody war themes. Set at the end of WW2, two deserters (Ryan Francis and Scott MacDonald), both traversing very different roads to hell, are captured inside a fortress by a band of orphaned children who have been schooled in the ways of survival by the crusty David Warner. When German soldiers attempt to penetrate their home, the deserters overcome their cowardice by engaging the enemy in a brutal firefight and executing a plan to save the children. A simple synopsis does not convey the cinematic joys of this stylish, emotionally wrenching movie. Shot in Romania and directed with considerable skill by an American, it feels entirely European and shares similarities with the Russian war masterpiece, "Come and See". In terms of tone and visual presentation, I was also reminded of Michael Mann's flawed but atmospheric, "The Keep". The score and sound work are brilliant,are all the performances. Burr cast real orphans – some scarred, one without legs – to play the on-screen orphans, a strategy that pays off in spades. The screenplay, which deftly explores identity and the concept of belonging, is spare and taut. Like the best movies and like life itself, "Straight Into Darkness" is not one thing; it is many.
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