"Déi Zwéi vum Bierg" is a (very cheap) production made by unknown directors (Mann Bodson, Marc Ollinger & Gast Rollinger) in one of the tiniest countries in the world (Luxembourg), boasting neither star attraction nor great action scenes. And yet watching this 'little' TV film proves quite a rewarding experience. How has such a miracle been possible? First thanks to Henri Losch's script (the chronicle of the lives of two friends in a small village near the Belgian border), which soon proves far more high reaching than one could have thought. To begin with, it is set in the past and thus entails a minimum of historical reconstruction ; even more demanding is the fact that it spans the four years and a half of the most troubled period of the Twentieth Century Luxembourg went through. Having the action open with the celebration of New Year's Eve on 31 December 1939 and close after the end of hostilities is evidence that Henri Losch and the directors display great ambition. Not only are they bold enough to span the whole war period, complete with the times of prewar threat, the Nazi Occupation and its attendant woes (including the choice of collaboration, resistance or the wait-and-see approach) but they also illustrate the immediate postwar era, its joys and (which is less common in most war movies) its painful aftermath. This way they manage to make the village, although described with scrupulous authenticity, a microcosm emblematic of the whole Grand- Duchy of Luxembourg and by extension of any occupied country in the world. But if the stakes are high, ambition alone does not make a good work of art unless an artist lives up to it. Well, it must be said, Losch, Bodson, Ollinger & Rollinger, for all their Poverty Row budget, do not show themselves unworthy of their subject . Of course this is not "The Longest Day" or, to be more relevant geographically, "The Battle of the Bulge", but the oppression of war IS palpable on the screen from the first to the very last minute. The presence of the Gestapo and its collaborators, arrests and deaths are enough to burden the atmosphere. Epic battles would surely have been spectacular but would have added nothing to the funereal ambiance that pervades the whole film, including during the final "happy" chapter. All the actors, professional or not, provide a globally satisfactory performance, particularly Christian Kmiotek and Fernand Mathes as Mill and Felten, the two young villagers who have sworn to stand by each other through thick and thin. Also convincing are Henri Losch (the screenwriter) as the vicar and Fernand Fox as Jemp, the collaborator- out-of-weakness. But the award goes to the talented Marie-Christine Faber who successfully makes her character (Jemp's German-born wife and dedicated Nazi follower) a hateful creature. All in all, "Déi Zwéi vum Bierg" is the striking demonstration that you can achieve something if you really believe in it. If you do not have much money then do like the makers of this movie, put all your heart in it, mobilize the energies all the people of good will around you and go for it! Money may be the sinews of war but is in no way an absolute necessity.
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