The Bells Toll for the Barefooted

I saw this film more than 20 years ago and, as things tend to go, I remembered it as a much stronger drama than it actually turned out to be. It's a shame for this film because the potential was huge, and one can't forget, for example, the chilling Soviet drama The Ascent. Nevertheless, many things still work in the film. Rajniak and Müller do an excellent job and you tend to believe in these tough guys, the majesty of the snow-covered mountains also plays its role, Vincent Rosinec's black and white camera work is impressive, and the motive of the dilemma to execute or not to execute a prisoner in an escalating situation is powerful. However, the screenplay has its weak points, My eyebrows were raised at the cute dog as the pet of the German commander in the high mountains, and the group of tankists who left their tanks somewhere in the valley and walked through the high-mountain area also doesn't make much sense. While Ewa Krzyżewska looks good, I didn't like some of her dialogue, and even Stanislav Barabáš's direction is far from flawless. In the end, it deserves just an average three-star rating, and I think that my overall impression of 60% is quite high considering the moments of awkwardness. Maybe it's time for a remake. :-) (11/06/2020)