by Anonymous Logician, Copyright July 02, 2006, all rights reserved. 602 views
A WW II POW story about Lt. Tom Hart (Colin Farrell) and Col. William McNamara (Bruce Willis). When Hart, a former law student turned desk soldier, is captured by the Germans in late 1944, he's thrown in a prison camp where nothing is as it first seems. Two black pilots arrive, and racial tension eventually culminates in the death of one of the Tuskegee airmen, who's framed for stealing a weapon. When a white (and extremely racist) sergeant turns up dead some time later, Lincoln Scott (the second black pilot) is put on trial and Hart is appointed as his lawyer. (Warning: the rest of this post contains spoilers.)
Hart slowly learns that the trial is a facade, a distraction. McNamara has targeted a German munitions plant outside the POW camp, where Russian prisoners work daily building bombs. Since the Allies believe the building is only a shoe factory, McNamara considers it his duty to destroy it. Hart finds out that his fellow prisoners have already built a tunnel and gathered explosives; the purpose of the trial is to keep the guards busy long enough for McNamara and 34 others to escape.
When Hart confronts McNamara, he realizes that McNamara killed the white sergeant, Vic Bedford, because in his trading with the guards, Bedford had already revealed the location of a secret radio. McNamara believed that it was only a matter of time before the Nazis found out about the tunnel. Hart is shocked that the colonel is willing to let Lt. Scott be tried and executed for the murder he committed.
The message that comes in strong from Hart's War is sacrifice. When Hart confronts McNamara about letting Scott die, the senior officer says that the basic Army rule is that one man must sometimes sacrifice himself for the others. "I agree completely, sir," answers Hart. "But I think that one man should be you."
McNamara is disgusted by Hart and his scruples, but his cynicism contrasts with Lincoln Scott's outlook. When Hart tells Scott about the tunnel, urging him to run during the jury's recess, Scott repliles that if he didn't appear when the jury returned, the Nazis would immediately start searching, and the escape would be doomed. Scott is willing to sacrifice himself, asking only that his son be told what happened: "It's funny. I was just writing my son, and in the letter I was trying to explain to him what the word 'honor ' means. It would be a hell of a thing, wouldn't it, to find out that your father helped men escape from a place like this…. Everything's fine, Tommy. Everything's really OK, just as long as he knows what happened here. As long as there's somebody to tell him."
When the trial resumes, Hart gives his closing statement while the 35 POWs make their escape. At the end, Hart claims responsibility for the murder in order to protect Scott. Hart is taken away to be executed, and when roll is called, the Germans discover the missing men. The commandant orders all those who participated in the trial to be shot, starting with Hart. But then McNamara returns to the compound. As the munitions plant explodes in the background, the Nazi colonel says that McNamara has won their duel. "No," answers McNamara. "We both loose." The German realizes that McNamara wants to trade his own life for the others, and grants the request.
Hart's War is a good story, though not epic, and drives home key values. The various dialogues about racism feel a little preachy, as does Farrell's voice-over at the end of the film, but the movie clearly portrays the evil of bigotry, the importance of duty, and the truth that even duty does not excuse everything. When McNamara lays down his life, he not only takes responsibility for his actions, but he reinforces the point already made by Scott: honor requires sacrifice.