This is the third effort I have watched of young Maltese film-maker Mizzi's output and, technically, it was easily his most accomplished; indeed, the scenes shot in the trenches are very vividly done and belie the fact that they were shot locally and by a largely amateur and family-knit crew. Rather than a gung-ho war flick that one would have expected in the wake of Quentin Tarantino's INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (2009), what we have here instead is a story of friendship that transcends national loyalty between the titular British doctor and his German patient right there on the field of battle. Their meeting is soon interrupted by a slimy, unwavering Nazi who actually shoots the doctor in the side of his face before being summarily despatched to Kingdom Come by the ailing German soldier himself. Another nice, unexpected touch of realism to be found in the film – and perhaps the one thing the film owes to the aforementioned Tarantino epic – is the fact that it is shot mostly in German; to have gone to the trouble of hiring a German- speaking actor (probably the actor portraying the Nazi) and having the English dialogue translated into German and subtitled back into English only goes to show the film-makers' own unwavering dedication to their craft; for the record, the script was written by my colleague Rose Abela who also doubles as a make-up artist!
What has kept me from rating this solid Maltese effort even higher was the sense of déjà vu of the material at hand which, given the low-budget conditions in which it was shot, is nonetheless excusable: the bookending modern-day sequences and the inability of a solider to hear during the barrage of bullets in the initial attack are right out of Steven Spielberg's SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998); besides, the recurring use of slow-motion to depict the dying men was a needlessly anachronistic stroke. On the other hand, the WWII milieu had already been well-utilized by another talented Maltese film-maker David Serge in his own award-winning short entitled .303. from 2009. Even so, as I said earlier, this is a commendable local short and I am sure it will get positive feedback at the upcoming edition of "The Malta International TV Short Film Festival". I, for one, wish Mizzi and his crew every success in this regard and look forward to watching any future production of theirs.
What has kept me from rating this solid Maltese effort even higher was the sense of déjà vu of the material at hand which, given the low-budget conditions in which it was shot, is nonetheless excusable: the bookending modern-day sequences and the inability of a solider to hear during the barrage of bullets in the initial attack are right out of Steven Spielberg's SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998); besides, the recurring use of slow-motion to depict the dying men was a needlessly anachronistic stroke. On the other hand, the WWII milieu had already been well-utilized by another talented Maltese film-maker David Serge in his own award-winning short entitled .303. from 2009. Even so, as I said earlier, this is a commendable local short and I am sure it will get positive feedback at the upcoming edition of "The Malta International TV Short Film Festival". I, for one, wish Mizzi and his crew every success in this regard and look forward to watching any future production of theirs.