I sat down to watch "Under the Sand" with high expectations: a story set in Denmark, at the end of World War II, in which a group of teenage German soldiers are forced to clear a Danish beach of the thousands of mines buried by the army Nazi. But I was disappointed because it began as a strong and tense drama (I had not covered my eyes in years!, but this film affected me so much that I could not see the scenes in which the young men risk their lives detecting the mines), and it suddenly turned into a "cake under the rain", with melodramatic dialogue and scenes, syrupy music, a dog to please the Disney-millennial crowd, screaming sergeants, arch-perverse villains, dirty and hungry but cute youngsters, and a whiny but happy "feel good" ending. It's a shame, because few movies treat German soldiers as human beings. Too bland for my taste.
Review of Land of Mine
