Must See Movie...

Don't Believe the Hype

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Kate Connor wrote and directed this affectionate and loving memoir of her family and the time they spent in Wisconsin at a place called Fort McCoy. Actually Camp McCoy, but I'll not quibble.Clan patriarch Eric Stoltz comes to the camp to be a barber for the GIs, he's got a heart murmur and is a 4-F. The same thing knocked with malaria knocked Errol Flynn out of war service. It grates on him constantly, both in looking at the kids going overseas and those coming back dead and alive. Even the Germans and Japanese who were captured get a bit of envy for their service.But wives and daughters also serve and the daughters form their own attachments to the soldiers, individually and collectively. Which brings me to the most poignant part of Fort McCoy. Young Gara Lonning entering puberty herself notices for the first time someone of the opposite sex. He happens to be Josh Zabel playing Heinrich who is a POW all of about 13 or so.There's a famous newsreel film of Hitler giving a pep talk to some Hitler youth now impressed into service for the Fatherland. By 1944 I'm sure many were dead and many prisoners of war. The little innocent attraction of Zabel and Lonning will wet the eyes and the ultimate tragedy reduce you to tears.Fort McCoy is a tale poignantly told and really should be seen to learn about how loss of innocence is too big a price for war.

What part of this is true? Camp (as it was then) McCoy was a POW camp ... that much is true. Officers were typically separated from enlisted. Nobody was allowed to where their uniforms. Where did the boy come from? Although the PW's were treated well (better that or troops were) they did not get to roam around at night. 'Frank' did nothing after the SS officer night walked in on his wife ... nope ... it was only after his daughter told him what she saw the SS officer did (yuk!!!)to the boy (Heinrich)that he manned up and went after the SS officer? True story? OK ...They go on a picnic with no food? Nobody cooked at all for this family? Certainly the mother didn't do much beside trot around being sensual? Answering the Camp switch board like it was a bordello? At the movies end ... some information on the 'real people' was given ... so ... what happened to her little brother? This movie was a waste of time to watch and a waste of time to make. People should not play with history.

Overall I'm a bit disappointed. I thought this would be an interesting period piece, and I'm a fan of (looking at) Lyndsy Fonseca, who I think is the most beautiful actress out there. While watching this film I kept having to remind myself that it was filmed 5 years ago. Perhaps during this time, Lyndsy Fonseca has gotten a ton of experience from filming Nikita, Kick Ass, etc. and took lots of acting classes. Honestly I thought her acting was stiff and basically poor in this. The beginning scenes were especially tough to watch. Getting past that, Eric Stoltz carried the film and delivered a believable performance. I think the supporting cast let him down. Also I wish they had developed some of the story lines of these characters a little bit better. I will say I think the kids in the film did a good job. I was looking forward to seeing the depiction of a US POW camp. After seeing the film, I question their depiction of the prison camp. The real Fort McCoy was/is huge. There were 4000+ POW's there. From this film, you'd think it was a small place where everyone knew each other. The budget probably made it necessary to slim things down quite a bit.

A first-rate, flawless film worth going out of your way to see. It's all there--an engaging story with believable characters and fine acting, a piece of history worth knowing about, a perfectly-detailed recreation of place and time--and it's a true story! Granddaughter Kate Connor has lovingly and unflinchingly brought her family back to life, and you and your family will thank her for it. This film deserves wide, mainscreen distribution and will make some smart person a lot of money. Americana, a happy ending, and a G rating! And this from a guy who would usually avoid a film with those parameters! (Seen at 2011 Newport Beach Filmfest)(reviewer has no personal or financial connection to the filmmakers)