Cross of Iron

There can be no doubt who the director is with slow motion explosions and hurtling bodies and screaming. From the sympatico political parts to the admirable acting, there is a lot to like about this movie, but I was thoroughly put off by the low rent titles montage that was so overwrought, post-post ironic and pedantic that I thought i might not make it through them. So the answer to the question "what would happen if a director with a notably bleak world-view tried his hand at a tale of overt bleakness" is answered. A related scenario was explored more romantically in The Blue Max.