This is based on a true story about Pvt. John Barrows (John Harrison) a British paratrooper separated from Normandy on D-Day. He is portrayed as someone who is not cut out for war. He manages to meet some allies, but they are portrayed in such a manner to make Barrows, the "voice of reason" giving a deeper meaning to the film, one that I didn't quite grasp. Murphy (James Boyland) is the overbearing leader of the group and at one time is called worse than the Nazis. Private Filey took a shot to the head and is not all there repeating the last word of other people's statements like Dim from "Clockwork Orange." American George Summers, nicknamed "Rock" (Adam Woodward) is a mute, suffering from shock and stress.The action at times is surreal with the classical music and whimsical soundtracks. This was clearly supposed to something besides a war film, considering how it failed on that point. Was it an anti-war film? Was it supposed to show 4 natures of man? Was it a plug for Cream of Mushroom soup? Unless you want something other than a war film, you might look somewhere else.

This is one of those films that is hard to describe without employing inventive expletives of the most Anglo Saxon nature. However, I shall try – the synopsis is a British paratroop squad are dropped miles from their drop off point and all but one are wiped out and then the sole survivor, Jonny, has to get back to his lines and grow a pair etc.Now the mistakes pile up faster than an Enron executive planning excuses. He stops to bury the dead, carries a Luger (that always goes down well if one is captured) and wanders about in the 'French' countryside in the total open. Then he meets some other lost solders and they have some unconvincing and lack lustre japes in the Lancashire countryside. Yes that is where this guffathon was filmed North England which surprisingly does not make a good double for Normandy. The special effects are excruciatingly bad. Some of the acting raises a smile but to be extremely fair there are some reasonable performances here ostensibly from Paul Harrison as Jonny, James Boyland as Murphy (don't even get me started on the gay sub plot though) and the American Adam Woodward. Others are less convincing but I think that is mostly because the script is soo contemptibly awful. Language often used is of a modern vocabulary and seems totally incongruous for some Brit Tommies in WW2. It was originally called 'The War I Knew' and is based on actual 'accounts' what are they then? I think it must be that some men dressed up and did some fighting ? Am I even close – well we will never know as these priceless sources are yet to be revealed. I tried to find some positives and apart from the acting – in places – the only other one I can think of is that this is easy to watch on fast forward as you will miss nothing. Not the worst war film ever but one that should be given very serious consideration – avoid like a drunken dance off in a mine field.

This is no Saving Private Ryan, but a) I don't think that is what they were trying to achieve and b) I bet the budget for the entire movie was equal to the lowest paid extra in Saving Private Ryan! It has all of the qualities of a plausible set of events, and I believe that short of the one scene (you'll know it when you see it), I doubt the plot is far from how it really happened. The acting was good, although the fatalities in the flying bullets scenes need to refine the 'sack of spuds' principal, it actually looked more like they were coached to 'tuck and roll'! I particularly liked the fact that they didn't try and add too many people in the 'events'. I personally find it unrealistic in some movies that you don't see the individual vehicle traveling along the road. I believe that Rommel was actually wounded because a pilot did see a single staff car opportunity and took it! Not everywhere was full on convoys. To sum up; great story line and very believable (on the whole), good acting and most of all entertaining as well as having realistic characters. I would suggest to anyone that enjoys a 'based on true events' movie, this is a good watch.

I you expect all the fear and wondrous suspense this kind of plot/theme could bring you, you will be largely disappointed. A journey like this could well have been an emotionally terrifying personal experience, yet it became a continuous parade of semi humorous and would be heroic encounters by a bunch of unyielding shallow characters, which left me totally unsatisfied and - after a while - starting to skip scenes. I applaud any attempt to get a movie project together - not a easy task and I must say that technically this movie has a nice continuity, but, nothing gets to me more than having to listen to well-meaning attempts at speaking a foreign language that fail miserably. At least hire real Germans and French or use native voice overs to do the job. What also sort of perplexed me was the lack of realism. In a particular scene, for example, our heroes are sharpshooting moving German targets from quite a distance - one shot - one hit... I must admit never having seen the end of the movie - I could not come up with a good excuse to stay with it.