An incredible war film has been hailed as “lesser known” but a “true classic” of the genre. A Midnight Clear (1992), written and directed by Keith Gordon, tells the story of a group of young American troops carrying out advance reconnaissance in the Ardennes Forest in late 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge.
During their mission, which takes place towards the tail end of World War 2, the young and inexperienced GIs encounter some surprisingly friendly German soldiers who say they want to surrender, with unexpected consequences. The ensemble cast includes Before Sunset star Ethan Hawke as Will “Won’t” Knott, the 19-year-old leader of the group, and Gary Sinise, best known for his role as Lt. Dan in Forest Gump, as Vance “Mother” Wilkins.
The movie, which is adapted from the novel of the same name by William Wharton, was lauded by one Rotten Tomatoes audience reviewer as an “incredible movie, one of my favorite war films of all time”.
Another described it as “beautifully cruel”, adding: “It is a war movie that doesn’t pull it’s punches, and yet it is one of the few that also doesn’t glorify them. This movie is a story full of sharp edges and awful realities.”
A third said it is a “beautiful and sublime movie, I really can’t find any flaws in it, aside from the pacing being a tad bit slow”.
They added: “It really gets across its points in a subtle and sophisticated manner.”
An Amazon user who left a review on a Blu-ray edition of the film said while it may not be in league of epics of the war genre like The Deer Hunter or The Thin Red Line, it’s “certainly a powerful piece of filmmaking”.
“I am very surprised that it is so little known and hard to get hold of,” they added. “It certainly deserves to be much better known.”
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 88% Tomatometer score (based on percentage of approved critics who gave the film a positive review).
It also has a reasonably strong rating among audiences, with a 79% score on the Popcornmeter (the percentage of users who rated it 3.5 stars or higher).
A Midnight Clear isn’t currently available to buy, rent or stream online on major streaming platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix, or Apple TV in the UK at the moment, but can still be found on DVD or Blu-ray.
