Pathfinders: In the Company of Strangers tells the story of a secret mission to set up guidance beacons to allow the first wave of the D Day air assault to maneuver to the appropriate location within German-occupied France. This true story has never been told before, so that in itself makes it a unique and interesting film.
The movie tracks different groups of soldiers as the come together to execute the mission. One of my favorite parts of the film is how the pre-jump tension is portrayed between the groups and individually. In the hours leading up to the mission, the soldiers each respond a little differently to the stress of anticipating jumping into battle and possible death. I enjoyed seeing the men joke or panic or pray to cope with their stress. This seemed quite realistic and gave a lot of depth to the characters.
Also, most of the WWII movies I have seen have been huge Hollywood blockbusters. I enjoyed seeing an independent filmmaker tackle the challenge of a war film on an indie budget. The look of the movie was dark and gritty, just like I would imagine war would be. The fighting scenes were shot close up, so I felt like I was part of the action. The battle scenes included a lot of hand-to-hand combat and close range fighting, so it felt like battle. A very different experience from movies I've seen about modern-day warfare like Hurt Locker. I liked feeling like part of the action in Pathfinders.
An added treat in this film was seeing Michael Connor Humphreys back in the movies and all grown up. As far as I know, he hasn't done any screen acting since he played young Forest Gump 15+ years ago, and his Livingston character was one of the most interesting in the film.
The movie tracks different groups of soldiers as the come together to execute the mission. One of my favorite parts of the film is how the pre-jump tension is portrayed between the groups and individually. In the hours leading up to the mission, the soldiers each respond a little differently to the stress of anticipating jumping into battle and possible death. I enjoyed seeing the men joke or panic or pray to cope with their stress. This seemed quite realistic and gave a lot of depth to the characters.
Also, most of the WWII movies I have seen have been huge Hollywood blockbusters. I enjoyed seeing an independent filmmaker tackle the challenge of a war film on an indie budget. The look of the movie was dark and gritty, just like I would imagine war would be. The fighting scenes were shot close up, so I felt like I was part of the action. The battle scenes included a lot of hand-to-hand combat and close range fighting, so it felt like battle. A very different experience from movies I've seen about modern-day warfare like Hurt Locker. I liked feeling like part of the action in Pathfinders.
An added treat in this film was seeing Michael Connor Humphreys back in the movies and all grown up. As far as I know, he hasn't done any screen acting since he played young Forest Gump 15+ years ago, and his Livingston character was one of the most interesting in the film.