Paths of Glory

Year of Release:  1957
Director:  Stanley Kubrick
Screenplay:  Stanley Kubrick, Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson, based on the novel Paths of Glory by Humphrey Cobb
Starring:  Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready, Wayne Morris, Richard Anderson
Running Time:  88 minutes
Genre:  War

The film is set in France, 1916, during the First World War, and tells the story of Colonel Dax (Douglas), whose ambitious superior, General Mireau (Macready), orders him to send his men to take a well-defended German position, despite the fact that it is a suicide mission.  When the attack proves to be hopeless, many of the men refuse to continue, even when an enraged Mireau orders the artillery commander to open fire on his own men to force them out on the battlefield, which the commander refuses to do.  In an effort to save face, Mireau deflects the blame for the failure of the attack on to the men, and orders Dax to choose three men to be court-martialed for cowardice, to set an example.

This is one of the greatest war films ever made.  The generals sit in palatial chateaus drinking fine wines and  eating good food, calmly ordering the slaughter of thousands, while the soldiers are forced to live in squalid trenches and to lay down their lives on a whim.  There's a scene early in the film where Mireau tours a trench, making forced, rote banter with the soldiers and cruelly berating one soldier suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (or "Shell shock" as it was known at the time).  Mireau dismisses the existence of shell shock and says the man is a coward.  Kirk Douglas' Colonel Dax has a foot in each camp.  He lives and fights with the men in the trenches, but also visits the chateau and works directly with the generals.  The film also has elements of a courtroom drama, although it becomes apparent that the court-martial is just a show trial.  Visually the film is impressive, with the camera gliding in through the trenches in front of the soldiers, and every scene in the film perfectly composed.  Kubrick has a reputation for making cold, emotionless films, but this is anything but, it's powerful and devastating.
By the way, Susanne Christian, who plays the German singer at the end of the film, went on to marry Stanley Kubrick.     

Kirk Douglas and troops in Paths of Glory