Even though the film reminds you of the death and futility of the First World War as Kubrick did in his laudable film "Paths of Glory," this Mendes film is reduced to mere war heroics that will please a viewer seeking entertainment without much reflection. The saving grace of this film is that the heroes are the foot soldiers and not the top brass of the military. The music was awful. The script is hilarious (it includes a pail of drinkable milk, with no milkers in sight or likely to be nearby and a single cow (without a calf) grazing--just to prop up the weak plot that allows a soldier to eventually feed milk to a starving infant!