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The Bridge

1959 · Movie · 103 min

7.7(196)unSUB Rating

DramaHistoryWar

In the final months of World War II, a group of teenage boys in a small German village are ordered to guard a local bridge as American forces approach. Fired up by propaganda and eager to prove themselves, they face a grim reality as the adult world around them collapses and the assignment grows dangerously real.

Based on Die Brücke

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Details
Original title
Die Brücke
Years
1959
Release date
1959-10-21
Language
German
Runtime
103 min
TMDB rating (input)
7.6/10 (196 votes)
About

You’ll likely enjoy this if you want a sobering, character-focused anti-war story that builds from everyday life into tense combat, in the vein of Das Boot or Stalingrad; Not for you if you need fast pacing or big-scale action throughout.

Pros: powerful anti-war message; gripping late action; humanizes young soldiers | Cons: slow first half; hard to tell boys apart; some realism issues

Themes

  • small town
  • nazi
  • steel helmet
  • war crimes
  • firearm
  • bridge
  • dead soldier
  • us army
  • teenage boy
  • american abroad
  • anti war
  • shot
  • +1 more

Awards & recognition

  • German Film AwardBest Feature Film · 1960
  • German Film AwardBest Direction
  • Golden Globe AwardBest Non-English Language Film
  • National Board of Review AwardBest Foreign Language Film
  • Academy AwardBest International Feature Film · 1960 · nominated
Show all 6 awards →
  • International Submission to the Academy Awards · 1960 · nominated

Cast & crew

  • Folker Bohnet

    Folker Bohnet

    as Hans Scholten

  • Fritz Wepper

    Fritz Wepper

    as Albert Mutz

  • Michael Hinz

    Michael Hinz

    as Walter Forst

  • Frank Glaubrecht

    Frank Glaubrecht

    as Jurgen Borchert

  • KB

    Karl Michael Balzer

    as Karl Horber

  • Volker Lechtenbrink

    Volker Lechtenbrink

    as Klaus Hager

  • Günther Hoffmann

    Günther Hoffmann

    as Sigi Bernhard

  • Cordula Trantow

    Cordula Trantow

    as Franziska

  • Wolfgang Stumpf

    Wolfgang Stumpf

    as Stern

  • Günter Pfitzmann

    Günter Pfitzmann

    as Heilmann

Directed by Bernhard Wicki