Film of the week

Writer/director Keith Gordon took William Wharton's novel about young American soldiers in the closing stages of the Second World War and delivered a mesmerising, haunting movie that deserves wider appreciation.

This is not really a war movie nor anything as simplistic as an anti-war movie. It is about how large-scale catastrophe and extreme situations in alien territory can affect the young mind. Set in the Christmas season of 1944, it tells of an American reconnaissance patrol who are cruising the Ardennes forest to bring back intelligence reports on the enemy's whereabouts. The Nazis are there all right and often have the Americans in their sights but don't pull the trigger.

Like the Americans they are young, inexperienced and reluctant to engage in combat. Being an Intelligence Unit the soldiers are an unusally literate and educated bunch. Ethan Hawke and Kevin Dillon head a cast who give exemplary performances in a movie that is as provocative and thoughtful as Wharton's Birdy.