As war films go, they don't get much more devastating than Bernhard Wicki's gorgeous, bleak 1959 drama The Bridge. The narrative follows a group of German high-school-aged boys as they go about their daily lives near the end of World War II and eagerly await their draft notices. The teens are as oblivious to the tragedies of war as only the young can be, while the adults around them have a much more realistic notion of what enlistment will hold for them. So when halfway through the film the boys are assigned to guard a bridge near their hometown with barely a day of basic training under their belts, we too have a sickening notion of what fate awaits them. The confusion and bloodshed that follows is heartbreaking, and is compassionately shot by Wicki with many arresting expressionist touches. The film sympathizes with these too-young German soldiers in a gesture that will still make many viewers uncomfortable, and rightfully so. However Wicki's ultimate message about the futility of war rings through loud and clear.