Thanks for the review Howard.
But while I liked the film ( rated it *** / ****), I am not so cheerful about it as most people seem to be.
It had some clichees imo, and the glimpses of the girl jumping of the cliff during the whole movie, were way too much. The metaphor and message of this were like shoved in your face, while it would have been much more effective, if the viewer had only seen it at the end (and maybe at the beginning).
Also the main protagonists didn't have enough depth imo, they were more like characters acting their specific type of character and his behavings over and over again. While the film is way ahead on almost anything that was made about this war (be it tv, news, documentaries, etc,etc.), and it's a very important film, one shouldn't overestimize it just because of that. I am writing this only on this board, because I know we have people here who have seen their share of films, and are openminded. On any other filmboard I would be more or less "praising" it.