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The Bridge



The astonishing The Bridge, by Bernhard Wicki, was the first major antiwar film to come out of Germany after World War II, as well as the nation's first postwar film to be widely shown internationally, even securing an Oscar nomination. Set near the end of the war, it follows a group of teenage boys in a small town as they contend with everyday matters like school, girls, and parents, before enlisting as soldiers and being forced to defend their home turf in a confused, terrifying battle. This expressively shot, emotionally bruising drama dared to humanize young German soldiers at a historically tender moment, and proved influential for the coming generation of New German Cinema auteurs.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New interview with writer Gregor Dorfmeister, on whose autobiographical novel the film is based
• New interview with filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff about the film's impact on German cinema
• Interview from 1989 with director Bernhard Wicki
• Excerpt from a 2007 documentary by Elisabeth Wicki-Endriss, Wicki's wife, featuring test reel footage from the shoot
• PLUS: An essay by film critic Terrence Rafferty

I watched this movie for a class a year or two ago, and good God damn is it heavy.
And I'm honestly surprised it's coming to Criterion, mostly because I didn't expect it.

I haven't seen the film, but once again Criterion's copywriters are making some leaps by talking up how the film

dared to humanize young German soldiers at a historically tender moment

even though Hollywood had been doing this for years before this film's release. What's Criterion going to use for their the Enemy Below spiel now?!

Looks like a good release though. I always like it when Criterion manages to drop films like this that no one was expecting (At least not that I remember!)

This is the kind of seemingly left-field release that I love to see. It's the type of film I didn't think would ever get an HD release in the US.

I watched it a few years ago and still have moments from it stuck in my brain. It's not exactly a subtle film, but it more than makes up for that in overwhelming emotional impact.

dared to humanize young German soldiers at a historically tender moment

Actually Murderers Among Us (Die Mörder sind unter uns) (1946), which I have been badgering Criterion to release, did so first. (Pleasantly) surprised to see this get released instead, though it won't stop me putting in requests for Murderers Among Us, as it is the better of the two.

A pleasant surprise and as obscure as you're gonna get from Crit nowadays.

They need to add that two hour Wicki doc as an extra. It was in the UK DVD and a German one.

I seem to remember this on that blurry hand written sheet several years ago....

Guessing this is 'The Bridge' from the New Year drawing

Criterion wrote: The astonishing The Bridge, by Bernhard Wicki, was the first major antiwar film to come out of Germany after World War II, as well as the nation's first postwar film to be widely shown internationally, even securing an Oscar nomination.

This was written by somebody who has no clue about German post war film at all. There are obviously many anti war films from 1946 on, major and minor. And as for international releases and Oscars, West Germany was in fact nominated every time in the best Foreign film category since its introduction 1956 before The Bridge was nominated.

lubitsch wrote:This was written by somebody who has no clue about German post war film at all

Indeed, although it's not even an exaggeration to say that that is true of almost anyone outside of Germany (excepting Fassbinder, Herzog and Wenders plus one or two others). I think they mean to say it was the first post-war German film anyone in the English-speaking world heard of - but even that's not true, Murderers Among Us being a case in point in this respect as well.

Anyway very, very happy to see Criterion pushing some genuinely undervalued work for a change, which is what someone in their position should be doing - hope this does well for them, and maybe we'll see some Konrad Wolf in the collection eventually!