(1964, UK, 88')
In the wake of Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory (1957) and its muddy aftertaste of anti-militarism, King & Country follows the story of private Hamp, played by an incredible Tom Courtenay, and his council, captain Hargreaves, played by Dirk Bogarde.
Ceaseless rain, trench warfare, the horror of war, and higher-ups’ brutality sending troops to certain death.
Take notice of a masterful sequence: soldiers, martyrs, one cup after the other like some sort of last supper ritual, raise their toast to their fellow soldier who, in the morrow, will die under their own fire. An epilogue soldiers cannot counter in any way, and the only way out to a destiny of glory.
