A classic

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to have a decent reputation (it was nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award among other things), I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it turned out to be a piece of war propaganda which was released just before the US joined WWII and it was apparently a huge box-office success when it was released. Well, to be honest, I have to admit that I had a rather hard time to connect with the damned thing after all. On the other hand, I have to admit that the version I saw on YouTube was of very poor quality and the fact that it was without subtitles also didn’t help. Indeed, above all in the 1^st half, everyone was talking with such a thick Tennessee accent so I was barely able to figure out what they were actually saying. Coming back on the story itself, Alvin York was apparently a real famous war hero during WWI and they tried to be as accurate as possible because York himself was actually involved. On paper, the story of this poor barely literate farmer going from village drunkard to born-again Christian to finally most famous US decorated WWI soldier absolutely had some potential but, as far as I was concerned, I was hardly impressed with the end-result and the whole thing felt rather clunky. Eventually, this movie did remind me of ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ which didn’t become such a classic but I thought it was much more superior though. At least, there is no denying that Gary Cooper did deliver a really solid performance and, in the process, he managed to win his first Academy Award.  Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really work for me, it is actually a really popular movie and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.